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Russian photo correspondent arrested in Minsk begins hunger strike

© RIA Novosti . Sergey Samochin / Go to the mediabankOpposition rally in Minsk on Belarus presidential election day
Opposition rally in Minsk on Belarus presidential election day - Sputnik International
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A photographer from a St. Petersburg newspaper sentenced to 15-day jail term in Belarus for participating in Sunday's opposition riots in Minsk has declared a hunger strike and has demanded a meeting with the Russian ambassador, Ekho Moskvy radio station said on Tuesday.

A photographer from a St. Petersburg newspaper sentenced to 15-day jail term in Belarus for participating in Sunday's opposition riots in Minsk has declared a hunger strike and has demanded a meeting with the Russian ambassador, Ekho Moskvy radio station said on Tuesday.

Thousands of Belarusians were brutally dispersed in clashes with police late on Sunday following the presidential elections, when opposition protestors tried to storm the parliament after preliminary results showed strongman Alexander Lukashenko had won his fourth consecutive term as president.

Alexander Astafyev, the photographer of My District newspaper told Ekho Peterburga (St. Petersburg's Echo) radio station he had not ingested anything except for tap water and snow since 4 p.m. (local time) December 19.

Astafyev has demanded to meet the Russian ambassador to Belarus.

The Ekho Moskvy radio station reported earlier some 600 people were detained by police at the opposition rally, including Russian journalists. Many of them were brutally beaten.

Russia Today TV channel's cameramen Anton Kharchenko and Viktor Filyaev were injured in the clash as well as REN TV and Russian state-run First channel's correspondent and cameraman.

The New York Times' John Hill also received several injuries during the Belarus opposition riots.

At least five presidential candidates were arrested following the protests. One of them, Vladimir Neklyaev, was severely beaten and taken to a police station directly from his hospital bed where he received treatment for a head injury.

MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti)

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