Tens of thousands of pro-EU Ukrainians defy protest ban

By Olexander Savochenko and Dmytro Gorshkov (AFP)
–
13 minutes ago 

Kyiv — Tens of thousands of Ukrainians on Sunday defied a ban on protests and fears of police violence in Kyiv to push for early elections after President Viktor Yanukovych rejected a historic EU pact.

The ex-Soviet nation of 46 million was thrown into its deepest crisis since the 2004 pro-democracy Orange Revolution when Yanukovych snubbed EU leaders at a Vilnius summit Friday and opted to keep Ukraine aligned with its former master Russia.

The government’s decision — first announced a week before the EU meeting — sparked mass demonstrations that turned violent in the early hours of Saturday when hundreds of rubber baton-wielding police drove about 1,000 protesters off Kyiv’s focal Independence Square.

A few hundred of them spent the night at the nearby Mikhailovsky Monastery burning wood in metal barrels to ward off the freezing temperature and receiving food from the monastery’s monks.

They vowed to form a “national resistance task force” and called for early elections as well as a countrywide strike, including daily rallies aimed at blocking the entrance to the Ukrainian government seat in the capital.

On Sunday thousands rallied again — many chanting “Shame!” and “Revolution!” while waving gold and blue EU flags — gathering at Kyiv’s central park before marching toward the city’s iconic Independence Square.

They were defying a ban suddenly imposed by Kyiv’s main administrative court on all protests on the square and its surrounding streets until January 7.

AFP reporters saw dozens of police officers give way as the crowd overwhelmed the area and knocked down metal barriers surrounding a huge Christmas tree that authorities had put up in the square Saturday.

Police chief resigns

Saturday’s police crackdown sparked a new round of Western condemnation of the Ukrainian government but was met with notable silence by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin.

US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki called on Kyiv authorities to respect Ukrainians’ right to free expression and assembly, which are “fundamental to a healthy democracy,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle also issued a strongly-worded statement saying: “I vigorously call on the Ukrainian government to ensure freedom of assembly and to protect the peaceful demonstrators from any kind of intimidation and violence.”

Ukraine’s leaders appeared to be taking steps to distance themselves from the violence by announcing the launch of a formal probe that would identify and punish those responsible for sparking the unrest, which left more than 30 people injured.

The Kyiv police chief submitted his resignation at a Sunday meeting during which Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko vowed to make sure his force acted with “tolerance … and within the frameworks of the law”.

Yanukovych added in televised comments aimed directly at the opposition that Ukraine had already chosen its “historic path” by committing itself to closer EU relations.

Yet he also stressed that these closer ties with the 28-nation bloc would come only when Ukraine was treated as “an equal partner that is respected and whose wishes are taken into account.”

Kyiv’s nuanced approach in which it seeks favour from both Moscow and Brussels was underscored yet again Sunday when the government said Yanukovych would soon travel to Russia to sign a new “cooperation roadmap”.

Opposition demands

Jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko — a top Yanukovych rival whose release was a condition for signing the EU deal — called on Ukrainians to press ahead with their fight.

“I am calling on all of Ukraine’s mothers and fathers not to leave the authorities’ actions unanswered,” she said in a statement read out by her daughter Yevgenia.

The opposition has drawn up a list of demands that includes the immediate ouster of both Yanukovych and his government as well as early parliamentary elections.

The Ukrainian parliament’s opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk also called on supporters to blockade the Ukrainian government building when it resumes work on Monday.

The new “national resistance task force” meanwhile was aimed at organising an indefinite nationwide strike.

Church leaders in the deeply religious country have condemned the violence and called on both the authorities and the opposition to avoid further clashes.

Copyright © 2013 AFP. All rights reserved. More »