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Two opposition activists arrested after demonstration in Brest

Two opposition activists were grabbed by plainclothesmen after attending a demonstration in protest against spelling mistakes on a recently unveiled monument in Brest on Monday.

As human rights defender Raman Kislyak told BelaPAN, Mikhail Ilyin, a member of a youth group called Malady Front, and Dzyanis Turchanyak of the Movement for Freedom were arrested and taken to the Leninski district police department at around 6:20 p.m..

Four activists, including Mr. Kislyak, who took pictures of the arrest were ordered to delete the photographs and taken to the district police department as witnesses.

Mr. Kislyak said that the arrested pair had been still held at the police department as of 9:20 p.m.

Some 10 people took part in the 20-minute demonstration. They displayed pictures of the letter “Ў” with black ribbons on them to protest its erroneous absence from the text on the monument marking Brest’s 990th anniversary.

The monument was unveiled on July 25. Experts have found at least 75 spelling mistakes in the text on the monument.