You're reading: People rally in Kharkiv in support of city mayor

Several thousands of people came to Kharkiv's Freedom Square to rally in support of the city's Mayor Gennady Kernes.

The protesters have formed organized groups and there are employees
of the city’s housing and utilities organizations in uniform around the
podium, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported.

The protesters are holding banners saying “Hands off our mayor!” and are collecting signatures in Kernes’s support.

Among the people who are speaking at the rally are deputies of local
councils from the Party of Regions, officials from the city executive
committee, housing and utilities enterprises, and public organizations.
Some of them read poems.

The speakers are calling against the destabilization of the situation
in the city, are calling the prosecution of Kernes politically
motivated, and are calling on people to “unite to save the city mayor.”

Kernes was summoned to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office for questioning as a suspect on Thursday.