Despite the onset of winter holidays, tens of thousands of people rallied on Dec. 29 at Kyiv’s Independence Square, known as Maidan Nezalezhnosti, roughly the same size as the gathering a week ago amid freezing weather.
The
pro-European protests that started more than six weeks ago after Ukraine’s
government suspended integration with the European Union have been galvanized
by a number of assaults on activists over the last week, including a brutal
attack on opposition activist and journalist Tetiana Chornovol on Dec. 25.
The
police have arrested five suspects involved in the beating of Chornovol and linked them to the political opposition, accusations denied by opposition leaders.
Chornovol told Channel 5, speaking from her hospital bed, that she was sure the
attackers targeted her over her recent investigations of top officials and their luxurious homes.
These
events armed opposition leaders with new statements.
“They
are intimidating us. They threaten our activists, burn our cars, beat the
journalists,” Vitali Klitschko, leader of the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for
Reform party told the crowd, which responded with shouts of “Shame!”
Arseniy
Yatseniuk, who represents the opposition Batkivshchyna Party led by imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, called for an independent investigation into her assault and the attacks on other activists. “We are defending not only Tania (Chornovil), we are
defending all our families (this way),” he said.
Yatseniuk
added that the opposition will also strive to investigate cases of corruption alleged against Prime
Minister Mykola Azarov’s government. He said that opposition
forces will develop a joint presidential campaign for the elections
scheduled in 2015. Yatseniuk called on protesters to stay on the Maidan and
celebrate New Year and Christmas parties there.
Demonstrators
have called on President Viktor Yanukovych to dismiss the government, release
activists arrested in clashes with the police and punish those guilty in the brutal
breakup of a student rally on Nov. 30, an event that outraged Ukraine and its international backers. They
also have called for Yanukovych to step down and call early elections.
But
despite the scale and duration of protests, the EuroMaidan rallies in central Kyiv haven’t led to any change in
government. Meanwhile, despite an
amnesty bill that was passed by parliament, several activists remain in prison. Yanukovych, furthermore, has only suspended three lower level officials in
recent weeks in response to the Nov. 30 police assaults.
Protesters,
however, say they are disappointed but remain excited and hopeful.
“This
is like a tsunami, it can’t be stopped,” said Iryna Nekrasova, 58, a
financial sector employee from Kyiv, whose right hand was tied with ribbons
bearing the colors of Ukraine’s and the European Union flags.
Standing next to her, Kostiantyn Shemetylo, 58, a Kyiv programmer wrapped in a Ukrainian flag,
said that people are keep coming “for their honesty and their future” and they
are ready turn out for months. “Now my wife and I are coming here twice a
week but since March when it gets warmer we will be visiting Maidan every day,”
he said, smiling.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be reached at [email protected]
