A rights group on Thursday reported dozens more home raids and arrests across Belarus in the latest intensification of a years-long crackdown on dissent in the country of 9.5 million people. The Viasna human rights centre said it knew of at least 159 people targeted by searches and detentions in multiple Belarusian cities, including the capital, Minsk. Those targeted by authorities included relatives of jailed dissidents, journalists and others, it said. Leaders of Belarusian opposition have called the new wave of arrests, which is the biggest in recent months, ”a blow to the solidarity within the country”.
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