Belarus Dissenters Vow To Rally

Opposition leaders vowed Friday to go ahead with a major rally Saturday, even though a police raid on an activists' tent camp graphically demonstrated that President Alexander Lukashenko's regime has no intention of relaxing its hard line against dissent. The United States and the European Union said they will impose sanctions on the Belarusian leader.

Police raided an opposition tent camp on Minsk's main square before dawn Friday, arresting hundreds of demonstrators who had been part of unprecedented round-the-clock protests in this tightly controlled ex-Soviet state. It was the first time that Belarus' autocratic president allowed a pro-democracy demonstration to go on for so long, CBS News Moscow Bureau Chief Beth Knobel reports

Opposition supporters returned to the square at twilight Friday, but police seized some of them and pushed the rest of the small crowd down the street and prevented pedestrians on their way home from work from walking through the square.

The tough response, after days of allowing demonstrations, indicated police have no intention of allowing the Saturday gathering, during which opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich has said he plans to unveil a strategy to drive forward the call for new elections without Lukashenko's participation.

Lukashenko was declared the landslide winner of a third term in Sunday elections that the opposition says were wildly fraudulent and that European observers said were severely flawed. An election night protest attracted some 10,000 people, an enormous turnout in a country where police usually act swiftly and brutally to suppress unauthorized gatherings. Another rally on Monday raised the stakes when activists set up tents and stayed through the night, continuing there until the raid at 3 a.m. Friday.

Police arrested hundreds of people trying to deliver food to the encampment or for other protest-related offenses, but the failure of police to break up the camp over several days raised opposition hopes of establishing a foothold.

Those hopes ended when helmeted riot police stormed in, wrestling about 50 demonstrators into trucks and taking away hundreds of others who didn't resist.

First, journalists were asked to leave, Knobel reports. "Move behind the barriers, for your own safety," warned the police.

Within 25 minutes, the tent city was empty, Knobel reports, and city workers quickly cleared the debris. Those detained were taken to police stations, where many of the women were released. The others face fines, or jail time, Knobel reports.

Opposition youth movement member Nikolai Ilyin, 21, said he and other demonstrators, many of them with only socks on their feet because they had been sleeping, were taken to a Minsk jail.

"Many people were made to stand in stockinged feet in the snow for two hours. We were made to stand against a wall with our hands up, and those who would turn their heads or say something were punched in their kidneys," Ilyin said. He said he fainted and was hospitalized, then fled the hospital.

High school student Alexander Ushko said police "beat those who were the most active and those who were resisting," being careful to avoid leaving bruises. "They punched me in the legs and the back of the head," he said after his father came to the jail to secure his release.

A former Polish ambassador to Belarus, Mariusz Maszkiewicz, was among those arrested and said he and others in the same police truck were severely beaten, Polish Embassy spokeswoman Monika Sadkowska said.

Tension mounted on Oktyabrskaya Square again Friday evening, as scores of opposition supporters holding flowers were pushed away by black-clad police.

Groups of police then gradually cleared the large square, pushing people off in all directions and detaining at least three, including a man who appeared to have been punched in the chin and a woman who struggled but was subdued by a dozen officers. A crowd on the main street leading off the square shouted "Shame!"

"The authorities are destroying freedom, truth and justice," Milinkevich told The Associated Press.

The European Union and the United States both called for an immediate end to the crackdown on the opposition.

EU leaders said the bloc would take "restrictive measures" against Lukashenko, including a likely travel ban to the EU and a possible freeze of Belarusian assets in Europe. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Washington would act in unison with the EU on such measures.

Earlier this week, the White House called for new elections in Belarus, CBS News correspondent Peter Maer reported. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the U.S. does not accept the election results, and added, "The U.S. will continue to stand with the people of Belarus."

Those measures seemed unlikely to influence Lukashenko, who despises the West and is pushing for the closer union of Belarus and Russia.

Lukashenko's supporters, who credit him with providing economic and political stability, were happy to see the tent camp gone.

"They had no business being there; it was a stupid rally," said Natalia, 57, a pensioner who declined to give her last name for fear of attracting attention. "We live OK and if something's not broken, don't fix it."