Authorities in Belarus to charge anti-government protesters with rioting for clashing with police

Authorities in Belarus are threatening to charge anti-government protesters with rioting after hundreds of people took to the streets of the capital Minsk to protest a decision to block two main rivals of President Alexander Lukashenko from running in the upcoming presidential election.

The Belarusian Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that about 250 were detained at the impromptu protest on Tuesday after the country's Central Election Commission rejected main opposition candidates, citing alleged violations including incorrect income declarations and a failure to gather required signatures.

Hundreds of people took to the streets of Minsk  on Tuesday evening, walking peacefully and clapping as passing drivers honked their horns in support.

The rally grew violent after plainclothes officers started to rough people up. Remaining protesters scuffled with police and chanted "Shame!". Anti-government rallies also took place in a number of provincial cities including Brest and Gomel.

The Belarusian Investigative Committee said on Wednesday that it has launched a criminal inquiry into "flagrant violations of public order" in Minsk and will be bringing rioting charges against the protesters but did not give their names.

The violent detentions have shocked many in Belarus which has seen peaceful demonstrations in recent years.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who fielded her candidacy for president after her husband,  popular blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky, was barred from running and later jailed, called on riot police to side with the opposition.

"People came out for a peaceful protest to express their unhappiness with the current system," she said.

"Why are you stoking even more anger with the system in people's hearts? I'm asking you to stop."

Mr Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, will seek his sixth term in the election on August 9 where he will stand against four other candidates.

Belarus has witnessed a turbulent summer of protests and arrests of potential opposition candidates.

Mr Tikhanovsky, the opposition blogger, is in pre-trial detention on charges of assaulting a police officer at his wife's campaign event, and Viktor Babaryko, a former banker, was arrested last month and charged with suspected fraud and money laundering.

Both men, recognised by Amnesty International as prisoners of conscience, say the charges against them are politically motivated

Read more: Belarus denies danger of outbreak as football matches continue and classrooms open

Mr Babaryko's team has collected three times the required number of signatures to support his nomination but Lidiya Yermoshina, the head of the Central Election Commission, on Tuesday cited a letter from a state audit body, alleging that Mr Babaryko was part of an "organised criminal group" and failed to declare all his  assets last year.

Mr Babaryko's lawyers insist that the accusations have not been proven in court while the former banker, held in the notorious prison of the KGB secret service, remains merely a suspect.

Election officials also refused to register Valery Tsepkalo, a former Lukashenko ally and the country' former ambassador to the United States, arguing that he did not have enough valid signatures required for the registration.

"That was a political decision," Mr Tsepkalo said on Russia's Ekho Moskvy radio station on Wednesday.

"This is how (Lukashenko) gets rid of rivals: he wants to be alone or with a couple of spoiler candidates who have little chance to win."

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which carries out international election and war monitoring, has not recognised any elections in Belarus as free and fair since 1995.

The organisation said on Tuesday that it would not be able to send its monitors to Belarus after the country's foreign ministry did not sent them a timely invitation.