Security has been tightened at the Minsk concert hall and its surrounding area: plain-clothes officers and riot policemen are seen there. Noticing journalists with a camera, they threatened to arrest them.
“First we were noticed by the policemen in civvies, who were standing near the police bus. They ran to their colleagues in the uniform to explain something or give orders. Meanwhile, my colleague who was carrying a TV camera managed to get away to a safe place, and I was approached by uniformed policemen. They checked my ID and demanded |I showed the video filmed. They threatened to take me to a police station. Then they were consulting their chief over the telephone for a pretty long time, but finally backed off,” journalist Stas Ivashkevich says.
These days the city police have been stepping up efforts to guard the Minsk concert hall, The authorities do not give the reason for taking such measures. The U.S. embassy to Belarus even recommended its citizens to avoid this place and be careful.
Interestingly, in yesterday’s speech Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka reiterated that the country’s law enforcement agencies should do their best to improve their public image and strive for being liked by citizens.
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