Ukrainian
demonstrator have returned to the streets of Kyiv in the latest in a series of
anti-government protests. The president sparked outrage last year by balking at
signing an association deal with the EU.
Tens of thousands of people gathered on the Ukrainian capital's Independence Square on Sunday, breathing new life into anti-government and pro-EU demonstrations that have tailed off during the past couple of weeks surrounding Orthodox Christmas and New Year, which falls on Tuesday.
Tens of thousands of people gathered on the Ukrainian capital's Independence Square on Sunday, breathing new life into anti-government and pro-EU demonstrations that have tailed off during the past couple of weeks surrounding Orthodox Christmas and New Year, which falls on Tuesday.
"What
are the next steps? We will fight... protest peacefully," Vitaly Klitschko
a former world heavyweight boxing champion-turned opposition politician told
the crowd. "Today the authorities use the militia as a weapon, silencing
the people's mouths with batons," he said, in an apparent reference to a
police crackdown on a much smaller demonstration early on Saturday.
At least 10
people were reported injured, including former Interior Minister Yuri Litsenko,
when police moved in to break up a demonstration outside of a Kyiv courthouse.
Another
opposition leader, Arseny Yatsenyuk, accused current Interior Minister Vitaly
Zakharchenko of authorizing the use of force on demonstrators.
The public
prosecutor's office said on Saturday that it had opened an investigation into
allegations of abuse of power by police in connection with the incident.
This was
the first time that force has been used against an opposition politician, but
late last month, Tetyana Chornovol had to be hospitalized after being beaten up
by unknon assailants. She said she believed she had been attacked as revenge
following her investigative work on President Yanukovych and other top
officials.
No to EU
deal
The recent
wave of protests was sparked by a decision by President Viktor Yanukovych back
in November not to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union, which
would have increased political ties with the 28-member bloc.
Yanukovych
later confirmed Kyiv's turn towards Moscow by signing a $15 billion (11 billion
euros) bail-out package offered by his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, who
also slashed the price the former Soviet state pays for natural gas imports.
Sunday's
demonstration was much smaller than the biggest rallies, which brought hundreds
of thousands of people out onto the streets. There was no immediate estimate
from police as to how many had turned out on Sunday, but news agencies put the
figure at around 50,000.
pfd/dr (AP, Reuters, AFP)
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