WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday strongly condemned Belarus authorities for the latest crackdown on journalists and protesters, calling the government brutal and authoritarian.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack slammed tough action in Belarus against the media, in which he said about 30 independent journalists in 12 cities were detained "without legitimate cause."

"The regime of Alexander Lukashenko has again shown itself as a brutal, authoritarian dictatorship that blatantly ignores human rights and fundamental freedoms," said McCormack.

Security police raided Belarussian broadcasters' offices in the former Soviet republic on Thursday, just two days after police broke up a rally by opponents of Lukashenko and arrested protesters.

McCormack urged the Belarus authorities to immediately release all of those arrested and said the government must ensure detainees who were injured received proper medical care and that those responsible were held to account.

"We also call on Belarus to stop its harassment of the remaining media still striving to report on the realities in Belarus and to respect freedom of assembly, speech and independent media in Belarus," he said.

Relations are very strained between the United States and Belarus, and earlier this month the U.S. ambassador left the former Soviet republic. Belarus authorities, objecting to what they saw as new sanctions against Belarus, had urged her to go.

The U.S. embassy has since stopped issuing visas and complied with a request to cut diplomatic staff in Minsk. (Reporting by Sue Pleming, editing by Philip Barbara)

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