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MINSK-Courts in Belarus on Wednesday sentenced dozens of protesters detained in an illegal protest against President Alexander Lukashenko who is accused in the West of stifling human rights.The European Union and the United States criticized the police for rounding up demonstrators. Brussels, generally less strident in its criticism, urged Belarus to pursue its recent drive for better ties with Western countries.But the former Soviet republic's opposition said the police action on Tuesday could signal an end to Lukashenko's efforts to improve foreign relations.Lukashenko has courted the 27-nation EU since a row with Russia last year over energy prices, but is at odds with the United States over sanctions and human rights.The Interior Ministry said 70 protesters faced public order charges and by early evening courts had handed down 55 sentences-fines or up to 15 days in jail. A Belarussian journalist was among those sentenced-a rare occurrence.A Reuters photographer said one court house was surrounded by riot police with access barred to all outsiders.Police on Tuesday surrounded hundreds of protesters in a city square in the capital Minsk, beat them and bundled dozens into vehicles. Eighteen detainees, some of them foreigners, were freed within hours."This is, of course, a signal to the West that there will be no weakening of the regime in Belarus," Alexander Milinkevich, the opposition's most prominent leader, told Reuters.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah....
