The United States is calling on Belarus immediately to release protesters and opposition supporters detained or arrested in connection with the country’s "severely flawed" March 19 election, a U.S. diplomat told Europe’s leading human-rights group.Hundreds of around-the-clock protesters spent their fifth day demonstrating in October Square in the Belarus capital city of Minsk. The sustained public demonstration is unprecedented in Belarus, a former Soviet republic that has used repressive measures to silence critics of the government.
