HAPY BIRTHDAY, RAT'

news sport j2 money culture scene video subscription A NEW WAVE OF PROTESTS Masked secret agents detain students in Minsk, Lukashenko fears danger of crown Dressed in red and white flags, students organized protests in several places in the capital Writes: HinaPosted: September 05, 2020 6:22 pm 8657797 TUT.BY/AFP Facebook Twitter Messenger E-mail Masked secret agents on Saturday dragged student protesters from the streets and took them in vans, while protests against the disputed re-election of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko continue for the fourth weekend in a row . According to opposition sources, another prominent member of the opposition, Olga Kovalkova, left the country and went to neighboring Poland. Kovalkova is a close associate of opposition leader Svetlana Tihanovska and was briefly arrested in August. About 30 people were detained for participating in the protests on Saturday, reports the Tass news agency, citing police data in Minsk. Dressed in red and white flags, students organized protests in several places in the capital. One was held in front of the State Linguistic Institute in Minsk, where police arrested five people on Friday. In other parts of the city, masked men took students gathered at a restaurant on Karl Marx Street in central Minsk. RELATED NEWS Protest in Minsk PROTEST 'Happy birthday, rats': Tens of thousands flock to the streets of Minsk, demanding Lukashenko's resignation BELARUS Numerous people arrested in new protests against Lukashenko, security forces attacked protesters During the afternoon, thousands of women marched through Minsk, shouting slogans such as - "hands away from our children". Mr Lukashenko has been trying to contain a wave of mass protests and strikes since winning a sixth term last month in elections his opponents say were rigged, which he denies. The Belarusian president has previously denied information about the coronavirus pandemic, explaining that it is a "psychosis" that could be fought by drinking vodka and using a sauna. But on Saturday, he "changed the board" and rebuked the protesters, reprimanding them for spreading the disease. “We stumble through the streets touching each other,” he said at a government meeting broadcast on TV. "And where is the maintenance of physical spacing and everything else? We are doing everything we can to prolong the duration of the pandemic. That is unacceptable."