You're reading: Interior minister promises not to suppress peaceful rallies

Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko has vowed that the police will not take any measures to violently break up ongoing peaceful rallies in support of Ukraine's integration with the European Union. 

“I have instructed policemen and officers of the Berkut special operations unit not to react to provocations and show restraint. The only exception could be situations where they were attached and were forced to use special-purpose means, because the crowd that approached the policemen were not citizens who joined the action to express their opinion, but they were activists of parties who provoked policemen to get into a brawl,” he said.

“We will not use force against peaceful demonstrators who have not broken any laws and have come there only to express their views,” the minister said.

These people are simply defending their ideas, but certain political figures have started to use these rallies, including provocations directed at police, in order to attract publicity for themselves, Zakharchenko said.

“That is why the Interior Ministry has called the demonstrators to order and has warned that if any laws are broken, the police will have to impose administrative or criminal sanctions on the guilty parties,” he said.