Belarusian authorities bring military trucks to thwart planned protest

Belarusian authorities on Sunday brought military trucks and barbed wire to thwart a planned protest by those opposing Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko's regime.

Latest opposition protests were scheduled to take place at 1100 GMT (4:30 pm IST). As the hour drew closer, military trucks were moved by the authorities to central Minsk. The development was reported by opposition websites that posted videos and photos of convoy of trucks being mobilised towards central Minsk.

The latest protests were planned after riot police cracked down on a march taken out by women protesters on Saturday.

Around two thousand women took part in the "Sparkly March", wearing shiny accessories and carrying red-and-white flags of the protest movement.

The march was the latest in a series of all-women protests calling for the strongman to leave following his disputed victory in elections last month.

Lukashenko's opponent Svetlana Tikhanovskaya who has taken refuge in Lithuania, had praised the "brave women of Belarus".

"They are marching despite being constantly menaced and put under pressure," she said in a statement she released ahead of the march.

Riot police cracked down on the protesters. The women were dragged into vans, some of them were even lifted off their feet by the riot police. Viasna rights group released an online list of names of 217 women detained. The group said that the list was being updated.