MINSK (Reuters) - Street protests against a tax on adults who are not in full-time work spread from Belarus’s capital Minsk to other towns on Sunday, local media reported.

Around 2,000 people took to the streets of Gomel, Belarus’s second city, the independent news agency tut.by reported, and hundreds more marched in other cities.

The new tax, enshrined in a decree on preventing social dependency, widely known as the “Law against social parasites”, requires those who declare less than 183 days of work per year to pay $250 in compensation for lost taxes - more than half an average monthly salary.

On Friday, about 2,000 people demonstrated in Minsk, one of the largest protests of recent years under the authoritarian rule of President Alexander Lukashenko.

The protests were unauthorized but appeared to be tolerated by the authorities.

Belarus has been in recession since 2015 due to a slump in oil prices and contagion from an economic downturn in neighbouring Russia, where many Belarussians work in order to send money home.

Tax authorities say around 470,000 people are liable for the tax, but fewer than 10 percent have paid, generating just $6 million in extra revenue for the government.</s>MINSK: Street protests against a tax on adults who are not in full-time work spread from Belarus's capital Minsk to other towns on Sunday, local media reported. Around 2,000 people took to the streets of Gomel, Belarus's second city, the independent news agency tut.by reported, and hundreds more marched in other cities.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Channelnewsasia.com.</s>Hundreds of demonstrators marched in the Belarusian city of Gomel to protest a law against “social parasitism.”

The February 19 protest included people of all ages and passed without incident despite not having been approved in advance by the authorities.

On February 17, about 2,000 people protested in the capital, Minsk, many of them carrying placards attacking authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

About 60,000 people have signed a petition opposing the law, which requires people who were employed fewer than 183 days in a calendar year to pay a tax of about $200 to combat what Lukashenka calls “social parasitism.”

The law exempts registered job-seekers, homemakers, subsistence farmers, and those working in Russia. Officials say only about 10 percent of the 430,000 Belarusians affected by the law have paid the tax so far.

The deadline for compliance is February 20.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and Interfax</s>MOSCOW (AP) - News media in Belarus are reporting sizable protests in five cities against an unpopular labor law that obliges citizens to pay the equivalent of $250 if they work less than half the year and do not register with state labor exchanges.

The protests Sunday were an unusually widespread expression of discontent in the authoritarian former Soviet republic. They focused on the 2-year-old "anti-sponging" law, but demonstrators also expressed dissatisfaction with the government of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Lukashenko has been in office since 1994.

News portals said thousands of people protested in Gomel, Belarus' second-largest city. Smaller demonstrations were held in four other cities. No arrests were reported, although police frequently crack down on unsanctioned rallies.

A protest in Minsk on Friday drew about 2,500 in the biggest opposition action since 2011.

FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 file photo, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend the talks in Minsk, Belarus. In more than two decades in power, the autocratic leader of Belarus has cast his nation as Moscow's closest ally, securing tens of billions of dollars in Russian subsidies. Now, the Kremlin finally seems to have lost patience with its unruly ally. (Yekaterina Shtukina/Pool Photo via AP, File)</s>In most democracies, a two-thousand strong protest would be regarded as small. In Belarus, where strongman Alexander Lukashenko has been in power since 1994, it is far from ordinary. Even more unusual, the authorities appeared to tolerate the protest. Protesters in several Belarusian cities took to the streets to protest against the introduction of a new law taxing the unemployed. Two thousand people demonstrated in the capital Minsk alone. A further 2000 came out in Gomel, Belarus' second city near the Russian border. Hundreds others marched in other cities. It was the largest protest since the 2010 anti-government demonstrations, which led to mass arrests, a bloody crackdown and the isolation of the regime. It comes at a tense time for the Belarusian authorities, engaged in open clashes with their closest ally, Russia. Widely known as the “Law Against Social Parasites,” the presidential decree would require Belarusians out of work for over 183 days per year to pay $250 to the state. This is equivalent to more than half of the average monthly salary. Belarusian tax authorities say around 470,000 people would be obliged to pay the tax. Fewer that 10 percent have already paid it.

“This might look like a small protest from the outside, but they are actually really big for us,” says Belarusian political analyst Viktor Karbalevich. Belarusian authorities have defended the tax as a way of paying for free education. But the fact that it hits the poorest in society has not squared well with many. Belarus is in its third year of a serious economic recession, provoked by a slump in oil prices and the knock-on effect of neighbouring Russia's worsening economic problems. Most Belarusians are feeling Moscow's recession: many have relatives working in Russia and sending less cash back home. Although Belarus' economic downturn has been ongoing for some time, there has been no clear indicator of social discontent until now. State propaganda has been showing events in Ukraine as a warning to Belarusians: protests could lead to a Maidan-type situation, so it’s best to choose the path of stability and stick with Lukashenko.



But, three years on from the Ukrainian revolution, the argument is losing its appeal. Unemployment is rising fast and government propaganda looks increasingly helpless. People are being laid off en mass; poverty and homelessness has risen sharply. Many Belarusians are also employed unofficially, which possibly makes them liable for the tax too. "The demonstrators think the state should help them through the tough times rather than make them pay more,” says Karbalevich.

All of this has put Belarusian authorities in a tight spot. On the one hand, Lukashenko cannot suppress these protests like he has done in the past — and he seems to recognize this. Minsk is trying to normalize relations with the West and demonstrate, particularly to Brussels, that it is able to liberalize. “Repressions would be very bad in terms of relations with Europe,” says Belarusian political scientist Alexander Klaskovsky. Even if authorities wanted to lock up demonstrators, it would backfire domestically. Previous anti-government protests were mainly staged by the political opposition. Then, it was easy for the police to round them up and throw them in prison. But cracking down on ordinary citizens is much riskier and would inevitably provoke more protests. Although the protests have empowered Belarus' opposition movement — with many of its leaders recently amnestied from prison, like Mikola Statkevich, taking part — it has not played a leading role in the protests. Banners like “Lukashenko Leave” and “Zhivee Belarus” (an opposition slogan) were few and far between. The reasonable solution for Lukashenko would be to bin the decree, says Karbalevich. “It is stupid and nobody needs it,” he says. The financial benefit to government is minimal, and a large part of the state apparatus is now forced to work on its implementation. But for Lukashenko, psychologically, taking a step back is impossible. Lukashenko is facing crisis of falling living standards and growing social discontent. 

 “That is dangerous for a man who says he controls everything,” says Karbalevich.</s>MOSCOW — News media in Belarus are reporting sizable protests in five cities against an unpopular law that obliges citizens to pay the equivalent of $250 if they work less than half the year and do not register with state exchanges.

The protests Sunday were an unusually widespread expression of discontent in the authoritarian former Soviet republic. They focused on the 2-year-old "anti-sponging" law, but demonstrators also expressed dissatisfaction with the government of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Lukashenko has been in office since 1994.

News portals said thousands of people protested in Gomel, Belarus' second-largest city. Smaller demonstrations were held in four other cities. No arrests were reported, although police frequently crack down on unsanctioned rallies.

A protest in Minsk on Friday drew about 2,500 in the biggest opposition action since 2011.
Demonstrations spread to the second city of Belarus—Gomel—where 2,000 march against a 2015 tax law.