Police arrest demonstrators in Belarus

Police in the Belarus capital, Minsk, have arrested at least thirteen people, including the main opposition party leader, Vintsuk Vechorko, following a demonstration against President Alexander Lukashenko.

An estimated three-thousand people had gathered in the centre of Minsk -- some waving national flags, some chanting slogans -- with thousands of policemen and soldiers standing nearby.

The trouble began when police and interior ministry troops moved in to break up the event, which marked the eighty-third anniversary of the Belarus Popular Republic.

Reports say police beat people with truncheons and threw them to the ground.

The demonstrators accused President Lukashenko of violating human rights and failing to hold fair and free elections in Belarus.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service