Belarus detains opposition leaders over tax protests
Belarus has detained several opposition leaders after people took to the streets to protest a new government measure for imposing tax on “freeloaders.”
Vyasna, a local human rights group, said Sunday that Pavel Severinets, a prominent opposition leader, along with three journalists, had been arrested earlier in the day after a protest in the city of Orsha in eastern Belarus.
Vyasna said police had also detained three other opposition leaders a day earlier after some 1,000 people staged a protest in the city of Maladzyechna, northwest of the capital Minsk. It said those detained on Saturday were thrown in detention for 15 days.
The protests reached the boiling point last month after the government announced that those who work less than six months a year have to pay about $200 (185 euros) in tax. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has suspended the enforcement of the measure for this year, a move interpreted as a concession to protesters. However, he has insisted that the government would not backtrack from taxing the so-called freeloaders, those living on unearned income and not seeking employment.
Vyasna said that at least 10 people had been put under administrative detention over protests that also expanded to the city of Babruysk and the town of Rahachow, both in eastern Belarus. It said authorities had imposed fines on many participants in the rallies.
Political dissent is scarcely tolerated in Belarus, an ex-Soviet country which still adheres to some principles of the Communist ideology about labor and other social issues. Lukashenko, ruling the country since 1994, has on several occasions used economically-inspired protests to suppress the opposition.
Ukraine’s Zelensky pleas for Patriot missiles, NATO membership
Russian forces take over village in Donetsk: Report
Russia says shot down 17 Ukrainian drones
VIDEO | In first, Bahraini resistance group strikes Israeli target in Port of Eilat
‘Saudi steps up arrests of Israel critics amid normalization prospect’
Houthi: Yemen preparing for 'fourth phase' of Red Sea operations
Report: Turkey halts all trade with Israel over war on Gaza
Macron: Western troops in Ukraine possible if front lines breached
University in Tehran offers scholarship to expelled students in US, Europe
All European nationalists are hidden Brexiteers: Macron
Iran says all crew of seized ship released on 'humanitarian' grounds
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
