Sole traders on strike in Homel (Photo)

Sole traders working in city's largest shopping centre Sekret have gone on strike.

Some sole traders don't hide they protest, some support their colleagues under disguise of inventory, Euroradio reports.

The sole traders, who rent premises in the shopping centre, say the new owner raised rental fees to a fantastically high level. The new rent prices proposed by NP-Servis additional liability company vary from 3 to 100 euro without VAT depending on the floor and location.

Homel businessmen think that old agreements with the previous owner that were to expire in 2015 were terminated by fraud.

According to Gomelskaya Pravda newspaper, electricity supplies were cut off to some shops on the ground floor and later on the first floor. The next morning, the whole unit on the first floor was left without electricity for some hours. Sole traders had to call the police to record intentional actions by the shopping centre administration. There are rumours that electricity supplies were resumed only after a call to the city authorities.