Belarus ramps up crackdown on protests, detains over 700

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Police in Belarus detained 713 people during Sunday’s mass protests against reelection of the country’s authoritarian leader, the harshest crackdown on protesters in weeks. Tens of thousands of people rallied in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, demanding the resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko, who has run the country with an iron fist for 26 years. Police quickly moved to disperse the protest with water cannons, stun grenades and truncheons. Dozens sustained injuries. Human rights advocates said it was the harshest dispersal of a Sunday demonstration since August.  On Monday, the ministry threatened to use firearms against the protesters “if need be,” saying that the rallies “have become organized and extremely radical.”