Ukrainians protest Russian language bid
Ukrainian lawmakers from government and opposition parties
scuffle in the parliament session hall in Kyiv on Thursday over a bill that
would upgrade the official role of the Russian language.
UKRAINE’S ruling party has triggered violent protests with a move to upgrade
the official role of the Russian language – a sensitive issue in the former
Soviet republic and one which opponents say will effectively split the
country.
A draft law by President Viktor Yanukovich’s Regions Party
rekindled an emotional debate in Ukraine where Russian is the mother tongue of
most of the people in the east and south, while Ukrainian – the state language –
predominates in parts of the center and in the west.
Fists flew among
deputies in parliament on Thursday and a crowd of about 150 people rallied
yesterday outside the parliament building in Kyiv, many of them bearing slogans
in defense of Ukrainian language rights.
“Nobody is threatening the
Russian language. It is Ukrainian that has to be saved. This is no joke:
yesterday there were fights in parliament but tomorrow there will be fights on
the streets,” said Yarema Goyan, a writer, who joined the
protest.
Opponents of the move regard use of Ukrainian as a touchstone of
sovereignty and say a growing encroachment of Russian will only keep Ukraine in
Russia’s sphere of influence.
The issue sets the ruling Regions Party –
many of whose deputies have a power base in densely populated Russian-speaking
industrial areas of the east – at odds with mainstream opposition parties such
as that of jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Tymoshenko’s
Batkivshchyna party said the proposed law was a cynical move by the Regions to
win back disenchanted voters in time for a parliamentary election in
October.