BREAKING NEWS

Protesters rounded up in Belarus; Nobel-winning writer due for questioning

Belarusian police have rounded up dozens of protesters heading home from peaceful demonstrations, rights groups said on Wednesday, after days in which the authorities exercised comparative restraint towards mass anti-government rallies.

The country's most celebrated writer, Nobel Prize-winner Svetlana Alexievich, was expected to appear for questioning later on Wednesday in a criminal investigation into an opposition council, two of whose leaders were jailed this week.

President Alexander Lukashenko has faced more than two weeks of mass demonstrations against his 26-year rule since an election which his opponents say was rigged. He denies electoral fraud and says the protests are funded from abroad.