You're reading: Crimean Tatars seize district administration building

KYIV, Nov. 27 – Around one hundred Crimean Tatars seized the building of the Jankoy district state administration in Crimea on Monday, demanding a resolution to the problems of returnees to the peninsula, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

Crimean Tatar Majlis chairman Mustafa Jemilev told Interfax that “the seizure was the result of court proceedings into the blockage of railways by Crimean Tatars.”

Jemilev said that four Crimean Tatars are on trial in Jankoy at present. Several months ago they blocked the railway, demanding the revision of land sharing and representation in the bodies of state power.

The Majlis leader believes that the protest action was provoked by the actions of the district administration, which he said is unwilling to settle the problems of the repatriates.

Crimean Tatar leaders are now trying to persuade the protesters to abandon the building.