Authorities ban local referendum about Chinese technologies park
The park will be constructed in Smaliavichy area. Summer residents are worried for their houses. Photo by belsat.eu
Smaliavichy residents weren't allowed to decided
whether they needed the Chinese industrial park, created with the assistance of
Belarusian officials.
The citizens, assisted by the “Speak the Truth!” civil campaign, collected
signatures for holding a local referendum and addressed the Smaliavichy
District Executive Committee with the request to register their initiative
group. They intended to put the question “Do you agree to the construction of a
Chinese-Belarusian industrial park on the territory of the Smaliavichy
district” to the referendum.
According to a leader of “Speak the Truth” Andrei Dzmitryieu, they received an
answer from the justice department in which it was stated that this question
belonged to the competency not of the local, but the national authorities, as
the decree about the construction of the industrial park was signed by
A.Lukashenka. It was also stated that they could not initiate a nationwide
referendum, as it is not allowed to appeal Lukashenka's decrees this way.
The civil activist and his colleagues plan to question all candidates to the
Parliament (both pro-regime and oppositional) about their attitude to the
construction of the industrial park without public discussion and control.
