The United States said on Friday that it plans to impose financial sanctions and travel restrictions against Belarussian officials to show its opposition to the Belarussian government's crackdown on protesters.

"We strongly condemn the actions by Belarussian security services in the early-morning hours of March 24," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Praising the European Union for its decision to take " restrictive measures" against the newly re-elected Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, McClellan said "We plan to take parallel steps involving targeted travel restrictions and financial sanctions."

Besides, the spokesman said "The United States calls on authorities in Belarus to release without delay the hundreds of citizens who have been detained, not only in the past 24 hours but in recent days and weeks, simply for expressing their political views."

It was reported that Belarussian riot police broke up early Friday a five-day-old opposition rally protesting the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko at a downtown square in Minsk. About 200 demonstrators were taken into custody.

The United States said on Monday that it does not accept the election results in Belarus and called for new elections in the country.

Source: Xinhua