(Moscow) – The government of Belarus should stop detaining demonstrators peacefully protesting the results of Sunday’s election, and uphold their right to do so, Human Rights Watch said today.

According to official sources, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenka garnered more than 80 percent of the vote in that election, though many have questioned its fairness.

“Belarus must allow people their fundamental right to express dissent peacefully,” said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Lukashenka leads one of the most repressive governments in Europe, with a terrible record on free speech and assembly. But the government must allow people to continue to speak their minds about the election.”

According to local human rights activists, approximately 400 people remain gathered in a tent city in the main square of Minsk, the capital, to protest the results of the March 19 presidential election. The number of protestors has increased during the evenings when people join the protests after work.

In the last two days, police have detained at least 110 people in the streets around the main square as they attempt to join the demonstration or bring food and supplies to demonstrators. On Tuesday, a Minsk court sentenced 40 people for participating in unsanctioned protests, issuing sentences of five to 10 days of administrative arrest.

The arrests follow weeks of intimidation and interference with the work of civil society activists, raising concerns that the police could use harsher measures to end the demonstration. In a recent statement, the head of the KGB, the Belarus security service, equated demonstrations to terrorism and threatened to use “all available means” to stop protestors.