Belsat.eu has achieved another record on the Russian social network Odnoklassniki (ok.ru): there is a massive public response to Belarus president’s recent statement.
On February 3, during the Big Talk with Head of State, Alyaksandr Lukashenka said the introduction of the so-called decree on idlers had sparked a backlash only among a few thousand persons.
In April 2015, he signed Decree Nr 3 that established the obligation of the citizens of Belarus, foreign citizens permanently residing in Belarus, stateless persons, who did not participate in the financing of public spending or participated in such financing less than 183 days (six months – ed.) in the past year, to pay a fee of 20 basic units (appr. $230).
In response, Belsat TV launched the web campaign ‘Open Lukashenka’s eyes to the truth – let’s show how many of us!’ Everyone had an opportunity to express their outrage at the order to pay ‘social parasites’ tax by liking or sharing the post.
It turns out that there are much more discontented citizens than the Belarusian leader could imagine: 1.3 mln users viewed the post, it has nearly 150,000 likes (and is still being liked), almost 4,500 shares and over 1,000 comments.
A number of independent Belarusian media outlets, in particular Radio Svaboda (RFE/RL), were covering our campaign and monitoring the public response.
We are set to let the Presidential Administration know that Alyaksandr Lukashenka misapprehends the people’s attitude to the notorious decree.
