Brest entrepreneurs give an ultimatum: coming back only after Decrees No.222 and 48 are abolished

On January 20 entrepreneurs met with Mihail Siarkou, deputy head of the Brest Regional Executive Committee.

Market self-employed entrepreneurs in Brest will reopen their stalls only after Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s edict that bans the sale of goods without accompanying documents is abolished, stallholder Larysa Bytsko told BelaPAN after a meeting between a group of entrepreneurs and Mihail Siarkou, deputy head of the Brest Regional Executive Committee on Wednesday.

The entrepreneur said that, had taken place in a “more or less quiet atmosphere.” “We handed him a statement issued by market entrepreneurs in Brest that says that we cannot do business in the existing legal framework,” she said.

An identical statement, signed by more than 200 market entrepreneurs in Brest, was expected to be sent to Lukashenka later in the day, said Ms. Bytsko.

The meeting resulted in the establishment of a council under the aegis of the regional government that includes stallholders at different markets and shopping centers in the city. It held its first meeting on Wednesday, discussing the possible abolition of the edict.

“Our decision is to wait for the abolition of the edict,” said Ms. Bytsko. “No one will open stalls in February if our problems are not solved. Otherwise we will run the risk of getting heavy penalties and confiscations of goods. We cannot work in such conditions.”

On Wednesday, some 200 market entrepreneurs marched through central Brest to deliver their petition to authorities.

A similar march took place on the same day in Mahilieu. On January 18, roughly 500 disgruntled market entrepreneurs staged a spontaneous rally in Homel.

Thousands of market entrepreneurs across Belarus have kept their stalls closed since the beginning of the year, fearing hefty penalties for violating Lukashenka’s edict.