Several hundred people gathered in the center of Minsk on Sunday and marched to the presidential administration building. Some were holding the Belarus’ flag from the early 1990s (white-red-white), and others held posters urging President Alexander Lukashenko to resign, according to RBC.

Among the protesters were Belarusian opposition leaders including Mikola Statkevich, the head of the unregistered “Nardonaya Hramada” party and former political prisoner who was pardoned by Lukashenko in 2010.

The rally, in which an estimated 500 people participated, received no interference from police, as Interfax reported.

However, according to Belarusian opposition newspapers Charter 97, leader of the United Civil Party, Anatoly Lebedko, was pulled over in his vehicle after the rally and was accused of a traffic violation

The demonstrators protested against Presidential Decree No. 222, which came into force on January 1^st, 2016. According to this document, entrepreneurs are forbidden to sell light industrial goods without a certificate of compliance.

In the two months since Decree No. 222 came into effect, Belarusian entrepreneurs have found it difficult to obtain the necessary documents to sell their products in Belarus. Consequently, many retail outlets in Belarusian cities have closed their doors. The entrepreneurs at Sunday’s demonstrations called the situation “a collapse of the retail consumer market”.

Belarusian authorities have repeatedly stated that they will not cancel the decree. Trade Minister Vladimir Koltovich, in an interview with TV channel Belarus-1, said that the government is interested in business and promoting entrepreneurship, but the challenge is how to make the system work effectively in the current economic circumstances.

The organizers of the demonstration are planning to hold another rally on March 14^th.

  Belarus, Protests

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