Belarus opposition organises strong protest against ‘social parasites tax’

Hundreds of protesters belonging to the opposition faction have been detained by the Belarus government led by Alexander Lukashenko, popularly known as the ‘Europe’s last dictator’, for protesting against the, so called, social parasites tax, which is proposed to impose a sum of 230 US dollars fine on the employable citizens who are unemployed for around six months.Alleging that it is a punishment to those innocent citizens who could not find a proper job, the opposition parties have been organising protest rallies and demonstrations across the country for last few days.The dictatorial country, which has no intention to allow any dissident voices, has quickly gotten into action by arresting those people who have participated in a huge rally led by the major opposition leaders.It is learned that the crackdown operation started long before the opposition has made plans to organise a huge rally.

For last few days, the country’s forces have been arresting firebrand opponents who, they feared, could mobilise the people violently. It is said that several opposition leaders, including senior opposition figure Mikalay Statkevich, went missing since the crackdown was initiated. Despite growing protest demanding an order to scrap the law, the Belarus supremo asserts that he has no plan to scrap the law. Anyway, he has reluctantly suspended the law for this year. However, it seems that no protest can force him to change his mind. As per the latest report, the allegation, that the Belarus, ruled by the dictator, uses brutal suppressive measures to do away with all kinds of dissident voices, reduces the country’s potential to build a relation with the west by escaping the clutches of Russian. In order to avert any setbacks on its foreign relations, the Belarus government has justified their action by saying that the protesters planned to organise a violent protest using petrol bombs and arms. They have asserted that concrete evidence was recovered from the rally spots to substantiate their statement.

vignesh

Photo Courtesy : Google/ images are subject to copyright