27/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - The commissioner for external relations and the president of the European Parliament have condemned the violent intervention of the Belarus authorities against peaceful demonstrators in Minsk. More than 80 of them, members of the democratic opposition or journalists, were arrested on Tuesday 25 March, when they celebrated the annual proclamation of the Belarus People's Republic in 1918, a commemoration that is banned by the Lukashenko regime. Benita Ferrero-Waldner stressed that the authorities' action went against the fundamental values of freedom of expression and assembly and counteracted the positive signs recently observed (release of political prisoners, suspension of legal proceedings against the Helsinki human rights group, the opening up of a Commission delegation in the capital). Hans-Gert Pöttering deplored the action that began on Thursday 27 March against independent journalists from Belsat, Tadio Racyja and the European Radio for Belarus. (A.B.)