Courts in Belarus yesterday sentenced dozens of protesters detained in an illegal protest against President Alexander Lukashenko who is accused in the West of stifling human rights.
The EU and the US criticised the police for rounding up demonstrators. Brussels, generally less strident in its criticism, urged Belarus to pursue its recent drive for better ties with Western countries.
But the former Soviet republic's opposition said the police action on Tuesday could signal an end to Mr Lukashenko's efforts to improve foreign relations.
Mr Lukashenko has courted the 27-nation EU since a row with Russia last year over energy prices, but is at odds with the US over sanctions and human rights.
The Interior Ministry said 70 protesters faced public order charges and by early evening courts had handed down 55 sentences - fines or up to 15 days in jail. A Belarussian journalist was among those sentenced - a rare occurrence.
A Reuters photographer said one court house was surrounded by riot police with access barred to all outsiders.
Police on Tuesday surrounded hundreds of protesters in a city square in the capital Minsk, beat them and bundled dozens into vehicles. Eighteen detainees, some of them foreigners, were freed within hours.
"This is, of course, a signal to the West that there will be no weakening of the regime in Belarus," Alexander Milinkevich, the opposition's most prominent leader, said.
He said authorities had done "a complete about-turn in tactics" by using force after months of restraint and predicted the EU might become less reluctant to impose new sanctions.
In Brussels, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner described the police action as "unacceptable".
"I am all the more dismayed by these events, since we had recently seen some more positive actions by the Belarussian authorities," she said in a statement.
Belarus, she said, had to understand that such action "needs to be confirmed if we are to engage in a full partnership".
US State Department spokesman Chase Beamer said the crackdown showed Mr Lukashenko was still flouting basic freedoms.
"We call for the immediate release of those arrested for peacefully protesting, in addition to the other remaining political prisoners being held by Belarus," he said.
"Only then will the United States and Belarus be able to begin moving towards meaningful dialogue."
Mr Milinkevich, one of two opposition candidates to run against the President in 2006, said the change in tactics was dictated by strong objections to Western sanctions, particularly US measures against oil products firm Belneftekhim.