Ukraine justice minister in state of emergency warning
27 January 2014
Last updated at 07:29 GMT
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BBC’s Steve Rosenberg: “One of the biggest countries in Europe is now in a state of siege”
Ukraine’s justice minister has warned anti-government protesters occupying her ministry she will call for a state of emergency if they do not leave.
Olena Lukash told local media she would ask the National Security and Defence Council to introduce the measures.
Protesters seized the building in Kyiv late on Sunday and set up barricades outside with bags of snow.
Unrest is spreading across Ukraine, with activists taking over municipal buildings in up to 10 cities.
Buildings have come under attack even in eastern areas which have traditionally had closer ties with Russia and where President Viktor Yanukovych has enjoyed strong support.
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At the scene
Protesters say there weren’t any guards at the justice ministry, they simply smashed their way through the window – now barricaded by furniture – and went in.
They are busy making another barricade out of compressed snow shovelled into bags, and hosing the nearby pavement on the inclined street with water. There is no sight of police of any kind.
The one policeman I found was about to lock the entrance to a nearby Metro station. He sighed, rolled his eyes, and said: “Nothing surprises us anymore.”
When I asked what the activists intended to do with the ministry and how they were going to run it, a masked man said: “We don’t need this justice for sale anymore.”
The crisis was sparked by the president’s decision not to sign an EU deal, and has escalated with the deaths of four activists in recent days.
Correspondents say protesters entered the justice ministry building in the capital without resistance.
“The seizure of the Ministry of Justice is a symbolic act of the people of the uprising. Now, these authorities are stripped of justice,” one protester told reporters.
One of the organisers of the ministry occupation, who gave his name as Oleg, said the building was being used to shelter those taking part in street protests nearby.
He told the Associated Press news agency: “We are not going to do any hooliganism, or have anyone hurt. We are peaceful people, we are for justice.”
Ms Lukash told Inter TV channel: “If the protesters do not leave the justice ministry building… I will ask the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine to impose the state of emergency.”
The minister is involved in the ongoing negotiations between the government and protest leaders, but said she would be “forced to turn to the Ukrainian president with a request to stop the negotiations unless the justice ministry building is vacated without delay and the negotiators are given a chance to find a peaceful solution to the conflict”.
Protesters have been building barricades with whatever they can find on the streets
Activists fill up sacks with snow to build a barricade in front of the ministry of justice building
The protesters are demanding immediate elections
Last week, the parliament of the Crimean Autonomous Republic – seen as a staunch supporter of Mr Yanukovych – also urged the president to declare a state of emergency.
Election call
Street protests began in Kyiv in November, after President Yanukovych announced he would not sign the long-awaited EU free trade agreement.
The protesters were further angered by the introduction of new laws last week aimed at cracking down on unrest, by banning tents being put up in public places and the wearing of helmets and masks.
The opposition is demanding that the EU deal be signed, political prisoners be freed – including former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko – and the repeal of the new laws.
The fresh unrest comes after opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk rejected President Yanukovych’s offer to appoint him prime minister, saying the key demands must be met.
Although the protest movement – the EuroMaidan – is largely peaceful, a hardcore of radicals have been fighting battles with police away from the main protest camp in Maidan, or Independence Square.
Reports now suggest unrest is spreading further into the country’s east, which is seen as Mr Yanukovych’s support base:
- In the north-eastern city of Sumy, protesters occupied the city’s council building and an MP for the opposition Fatherland party has assumed the leadership of the council, reports Ukraine’s Unian news agency
- Several thousand protesters tried to storm the state regional administration building in south-eastern Zaporizhzhya, with police using tear gas and smoke grenades against the crowd and eventually dispersing them, reports said
- Some 2,000 people gathered for a people’s assembly in Cherkasy, south-east of Kyiv, said Unian. More than 40 people were reportedly detained there after a protest.
- Activists in Chernihiv, north of Kyiv, set up barricades outside a regional administration building which they attempted to storm on Saturday, Unian reported
- In Dnipropetrovsk, eastern Ukraine, there were clashes as protesters descended on the regional administration buildings; 14 protesters were arrested, said Interfax-Ukraine news agency
- Protesters in Odessa, to the south, also gathered at the regional office
- In the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, a group of young men armed with baseball bats attacked anti-government protesters who had gathered for a rally, Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported
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