Belarus 'silent rally' violently rounded up and dumped in unmarked vans

About 3,000 people who had gathered near the main square in the capital of Minks to demonstrate by standing together clapping their hands were the focus of a police clampdown on Wednesday.

The BBCis reporting that protesters were violently rounded up and some journalists were attacked. This is the fourth such protest in recent weeks, against President Alexander Lukashenko and his economic policies that are eroding the country’s economy.

Officials went as far as organising a disco in the main square in a bid to block the protest. Demonstrators circumvented this by gathering in the area around the square- despite torrential rain.

Shortly afterwards however, plain-clothes police began to pick out protesters and dragged them violently away into a number of unmarked buses, the BBCreports.

Some journalists were attacked, though not arrested. A BBC cameraman was wrestled to the ground by police.

The organisers of recent protests call themselves "the revolution via social network" and have begun to demonstrate as the economic crisis in Belarushas worsened.

There has been panic buying as the country's currency has plummeted in value, and the government is seeking billions of dollars in loans from the International Monetary Fund and from Russia.

After Lukashenko was voted in for a fourth term in December, authorities launched a crackdown on election-night protests.