Strikes at Zhdanovichy Market Continue

22.08.2007. Tags: entrepreneurs.
Source: Charter`97.

Around 100 trading outlets were closed today at the Mir Mody (Fashion World) trade center at the Zhdanovichy market. That was reported by one of the leaders of the Minsk entrepreneurs Aliaksandr Makayeu. He said that fur traders refused to start working. According to them, under constantly changing legislation their goods can be any time confiscated by the monitoring bodies. For settling the conflict the leader of the Perspective public organization Anatol Shumchanka arrived at the ministry for taxes and duties. That was not the first incident of the kind at the Zhdanovichy market. Only two days ago on Sunday over 100 businessmen participated in the spontaneous meeting in response to the attempted confiscation of the shops at the Zhdanovichy market. When one of the fur shops at the second floor of Mir Mody-3 was inspected its shop assistant didn’t have one of the documents demanded by the tax inspectors. Among the papers submitted for inspection the goods owner’s permission for selling the goods by the shop or by the shop assistant was reported as unavailable. The inspectors declared that due to the absence of the mentioned document all the goods available at the shop to the amount of 100 thousand dollars were to be enlisted and confiscated. The traders’ statements of not knowing the recently introduced amendment to the law didn’t persuade the inspectors. The incident evoked a wild response of the fur and leather goods traders from the second floor. The people who gathered around the inspectors showed their indignation with the tax authorities’ actions. They were supported by the Mir Mody traders from other floors of the buildings. Finally around 100 people gathered on the second floor of the center and decided to get the authorities’ representatives acquainted with their problems. They declared that the tax inspection and other monitoring bodies wage a true war against the entrepreneurs, they never inform them about changes to the law, they keep on introducing new requirements to the accounting documents, confiscate the goods. Finally the police arrived to the place of the spontaneous meeting and its participants had to disperse. Members of the Perspective met with the deputy ministers for taxes and duties of Belarus Aliaksandr and Vasil Kamenka. The officials promised to settle the conflict which occurred today at the Zhdanovichy market and announced the monitoring moratorium for the time of the conflict settlement. ’We proved the authorities that they must communicate with the working people and not allow such incidents to happen’, said Anatol Shumchanka.