A couple hug after being released from a detention centre where protesters were detained during a mass rally following the presidential election in Minsk, Belarus. August 14 - Copyright AP

In pictures: protesters freed from detention centres in Belarus

By Natalia Liubchenkova with AP, AFP

Published on 14/08/2020 - 11:18•Updated 12:01

Emotional reunions were seen when relatives and friends greeted protesters released from the detention centres during the Belarus protest crackdown

In the very early hours on Friday, August 14, Belarusian authorities released dozens of people detained during demonstrations contesting the results of the presidential election.

Just after midnight, detainees were seen walking out of one of the jails in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. In the early morning, volunteers who had stayed round the clock near the places where detainees were kept, also saw more than a hundred detainees being released in the city of Zhodino just northeast of the Belarusian capital.

Ambulances arrived to carry those who apparently were unable to walk on their own.

Nearly 7,000 people have been detained and hundreds injured in the clampdown on demonstrators who are calling the election results a fraud. Police have broken up protests with stun grenades, tear gas, rubber bullets and severe beatings.

Earlier this week hundreds of women formed long “lines of solidarity” in several areas in Minsk. Many were dressed in white and carried flowers and portraits of detained loved ones.