Belarus police detain protesters and journalists

MINSK, Sep 10 (Reuters) Police in Belarus detained a group of opposition activists for staging an unlawful protest today and briefly held two journalists, including a Reuters photographer, who were covering the event.

Police made the detentions outside a courthouse in the town of Baranovichi, about two hours' drive from the capital Minsk, detained Reuters photographer Vasily Fedosenko said by mobile telephone from inside the local police station.

The activists were protesting against the prosecution of a member of the unregistered group Youth Front who went on trial in Baranovichi on charges of membership of a banned group.

Fedosenko said police detained him and Viktor Drachyov, a photographer working for Agence France-Presse news agency, and about 20 protesters.

The two photographers were released within hours. Protesters were taken to court to face charges of staging an illegal public gathering -- usually punishable by fines or up to 15 days in jail.

Fedosenko said police initially said they were detaining everyone, including the two journalists ''even though I showed them my official Belarus Foreign Ministry accreditation and told them I was carrying out my professional duties''.

Officers said he would be taken to court and tried, with the charge sheet stating he had shouted opposition slogans and created a disturbance. He later said police told him and Drachyov they were free to go, without further explanation.

Western governments accuse Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko of harassing opponents, muzzling the media and rigging elections.

The United States and the European Union have barred entry to him and senior Belarussian officials on grounds that his re-election last year to a third term was blatantly rigged.

Lukashenko remains popular at home and tells voters he has spared them from the lawlessness and turmoil of other former Soviet republics.

REUTERS GL RAI1855