Canada and the United Kingdom together imposed a first round of sanctions last month.

A special written procedure will be launched on Friday to impose sanctions on about 40 Belarus officials.

The asset freeze comes after violent crackdowns on protestors opposing the 'fraudulent' election in Belarus.

Hundreds of women calling for the authoritarian president to step down protested in Belarus' capital on Saturday, continuing the large demonstrations that have rocked the country since early August.

One opposition leader called the secretive ceremony "a farce."

Videos shared by local media outlets showed security forces in helmets or masks hauling protesters off the streets.

On Saturday, at least 5,000 people had marched through the city demanding the release of a jailed opposition leader, in the latest in a wave of mass protests after the Aug 9 presidential vote.

Belarus police detained dozens of protesters on Saturday as thousands of people gathered in the capital Minsk demanding the release of a jailed opposition leader, the latest in a wave of mass protests following a disputed election.

Masked men detained Belarusian protest leader Maria Kolesnikova in central Minsk on Monday morning and drove her away in a van and two of her allies also disappeared later, the opposition movement said.

The human rights group Spring-96 said at least 70 people were arrested. Russia's Interfax news agency reported that several people were injured when police broke up a protest outside a state-run tractor factory.