Mass Ukraine rally over Europe U-turn
Ukrainian opposition leaders have called for President
Viktor Yanukovich and his government to resign at a rally of
about 350,000 people, the biggest protest in the capital Kyiv
since the “Orange Revolution” of nine years ago.
On a day of huge emotion, which also marked the anniversary
of Ukraine’s 1991 referendum on independence from the Soviet
Union, opposition leaders denounced Yanukovich for walking
away from a pact offered by the European Union and swinging
trade policy back towards Russia.
“They stole the dream,” heavyweight boxer-turned-opposition
politician Vitaly Klitschko told the crowds on Independence
Square.
“If this government does not want to fulfil the will of the
people, then there will be no such government, there will be
no such president. There will be a new government and a new
president,” declared Klitschko, himself a contender for the
next presidential election due in 2015.
After months of pressure from Russia, Yanukovich suddenly
backpedalled last week from signing the deal on closer
relations with the EU in favour of renewed economic dialogue
with Moscow, Ukraine’s former Soviet master.
Far-right nationalist leader Oleh Tyahniboh called for a
national strike to start from Sunday, and members of his
Svoboda (Freedom) party occupied Kyiv’s city hall along with
followers of former economy minister Arseny Yatsenuk’s
Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) Party.
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All three opposition leaders also occupied a trade union
building, turning it into a temporary headquarters.
The events, evoking memories of the 2004-5 Orange Revolution
that overturned the established political order, took place
against the background of an apparent attempt by a protesters
to storm the main presidential office.
Interior Ministry forces and riot police fired tear gas and
stun grenades to repel the protesters, who used an earth
excavator in an attempt to break through police lines.
Police said 100 officers had been injured in violence during
the day, news agencies reported.
But opposition politicians, who had been urging protesters
all day to remain peaceful, denounced the violence at the
headquarters of Yanukovich’s administration as a
stage-managed “provocation” to justify a security clampdown.
They sent officials to appeal to supporters to return to the
main protest on Independence Square.
“We know that the president wants to … declare a state of
emergency in the country,” Yatsenyuk told reporters.
Klitschko, who heads a separate pro-Europe party, also urged
his supporters to stay away from the area near the
presidential offices. “The authorities are trying to turn our
peaceful demonstration into a place of blood,” he said.
Police said some protesters had been detained and 22 had
sought medical help, the Russian state-owned agency RIA
reported.
RUSSIAN PRESSURE
Yanukovich’s U-turn has highlighted an old East-West
tug-of-war over Ukraine, which is the cradle of eastern
Slavic tradition while sharing today borders with four EU
countries.
Yanukovich, a native Russian-speaker, represents a
constituency in the industrial east which has close cultural
and linguistic kinship with Russia. In Ukrainian-speaking
areas, particularly in the west, people have a more Western
outlook.
Yanukovich says he has taken only a strategic pause in moves
closer to Europe but the opposition accuses him of doing a
deal with Russia that will ultimately harm national
sovereignty.
Trying to defuse tensions before Sunday’s rally, Yanukovich
said he would do everything in his power to speed up moves
toward the EU. But he repeated the need to balance European
integration with national interests.
The protesters, shouting “Down with the Gang!”, swept through
the streets of Kyiv in a sea of blue and gold – the colours
of both the EU and Ukrainian flags – before arriving at
Independence Square.
The crowd had been additionally inflamed by a crackdown early
on Saturday when riot police broke up an encampment of mainly
young protesters using batons and stun grenades, injuring an
undisclosed number of people.
Police, who had sealed off part of Independence Square
following the swoop on young protesters on Saturday, withdrew
as the marchers approached the square.
STRIKE CALL
Apart from Klitschko’s call for Yanukovich to go, far-right
nationalist Tyahniboh called for a national strike. “From
this day, we are starting a strike,” he declared.
“I want my children to live in a country where they don’t
beat young people,” said protester Andrey, 33, the manager of
a large company, who declined to give his surname for fear of
reprisals.
“I want my children to live in a state that differs from the
Soviet past,” said Iryna Lukyanenko, a 19-year-old student.
“After Saturday, when the protest was broken up, I thought I
should come today to defend our rights, We are no longer
talking about ‘euro-integration’, but our rights.”
“We are here to defend our dignity,” said Andrey Semenov, 55,
who runs a small business. His friend Mykhailo, 58, said: “We
are here to defend the young people, our children who are
defending the future.”
The interior minister warned that police would respond to any
disorder and said Ukraine had no place among the ranks of
countries like Libya or Tunisia, where Arab popular uprisings
overthrew autocratic old-guard leaderships.
“If there are any calls to disorder, we will respond,”
Interfax quoted the minister, Vitaly Zakharchenko, as saying.
Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said late on Saturday that
Yanukovich would travel to Moscow to work on a “road map” for
new economic cooperation after a trip to China on Dec. 3-6,
though he gave no dates.