Police did not use force or special equipment to stop a planned opposition rally in downtown Minsk despite the protesters deviated from the designated route, a city police spokesman said.
On Thursday, about 700 opposition activists initially gathered in a park near the National Academy of Sciences to protest the policies of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.
The protesters later broke through a police cordon and moved along the Independence Avenue toward government buildings in the center of the Belarusian capital only to face a reinforced police block on their way.
Police spokesman Alexander Lastovsky said the demonstrators were warned about the responsibility for breaking the order and the crowd dispersed peacefully after a short time.
"They certainly violated the law and their actions will be subject of investigation...but we did not have to use force or detain anybody," the official said.
Every year, the Belarusian opposition marks on March 25 the so-called Freedom Day as the anniversary of the short-lived Belarusian People's Republic.
The first Belarusian state was proclaimed in Minsk on March 25, 1918 and crushed by the Bolsheviks some nine months later to become part of the Soviet Union.
The Belarusian authorities have, in the past, used force to prevent the opposition from taking people to the streets on this day.
MINSK, March 26 (RIA Novosti)
