DNIPROPETROVSK — EuroMaidan, the 25-day-old civil uprising that hopes to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from power, finds support even in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland – traditionally considered to favor stronger economic and cultural ties with Russia over the European Union.
Yanukovych’s decision to walk away from an association
agreement with the EU on Nov. 21 has brought protests to Dnipropetrovsk,
Ukraine’s third largest city with more than 1 million people.
Several mass demonstrations, including today’s EuroMaidan
protest which attracted more than 3,000 people, suggest the city is deeply
divided over the government’s decision not to sign the association agreement –
a political and trade pact that could be a stepping stone to eventual EU
membership for Ukraine.
Inspired by vast EuroMaidan
rallies of more than 300,000 people in Kyiv’s Independence Square, and shocked
by police brutality on the night of Nov. 30, an anti-government demonstration
on Dec. 8 of up to 7,000 people gathered in Dnipropetrovsk’s European Square.
It was the largest mass demonstration in the city since Ukraine’s Orange
Revolution in 2004.
And on Dec. 15, crowds of more
than 3,000 took to the streets once again, marching along Karl Marx Prospect
right up to Dnipropetrovsk’s city hall, in a demonstration which lasted over
four hours in sub-zero temperatures.
“We are watching what they
are doing in Kyiv.” said Mykhailo Gendin, a 25-year-old software developer
who has been attending the EuroMaidan protests regularly for the last three
weeks. “Dnipropetrovsk is normally politically inert. But watching what
they are doing in Kyiv inspires us to be here.”
Valeria Fediushycheva, a 24-year-old
visa applications officer who was at a smaller EuroMaidan protest in European
Square on Dec. 6: “We are here to show all Ukrainians we support the ideas of
the Euromaidan in Kyiv,” said Fediushycheva. “It is important for us to show
that many of us here in the eastern part of the country support what is
happening in the western part.”
Hundreds of Dnipropetrovsk’s
Euromaidan supporters are also showing their support by sending clothing, food
supplies, and cooking equipment to Kyiv; thousands have even travelled the
nearly 400 kilometers from Dnipropetrovsk to participate in Kyiv’s Independence
Square protests themselves.
Yet there is also support for the
Ukrainian government. Those attending rallies of up to 2,000 people in support
of the government’s decision believe closer ties with the EU would damage
Dnipropetrovsk’s business relations with Russia, Ukraine’s major trading
partner and main supplier of natural gas.
“EU association would land a
heavy blow on the economy of Dnipropetrovsk,” said Yuliya, a teacher attending
a pro-government rally on Dec. 2: “Our industries have always relied on
Russia.”
But many pro-government
supporters have been coerced or bribed by their employers to join the
pro-government demonstrations. “Even at my academy,” said Yuliya Chykolba, a
professional tai-kwon-do wrestler, “There were messages telling us that if you
did not attend the pro-government protests, there would be problems.”
There have also been a number of
reports that the pro-government supporters who travelled to Kyiv from
Dnipropetrovsk on Dec. 14 have not only received daily payment of Hr 300, but
they were also assisted in their travel arrangements by the Interior Ministry.
Several city council members have
also voiced their concerns about the repeated use of intimidation tactics
against Euromaidan supporters by
rent-a-thugs. On the evening of Nov. 25, 50 men in sports clothes attacked 12 Euromaidan protestors who were planning to stay the night in
European Square.
“I tried to warn the police,”
said Victor Mikhailovich Romanenko, deputy of the Krasnogvardeyska City Council
and an organiser of Dnipropetrovsk’s Euromaidan protests:
“We recognised these ‘sportsmen’.
We had seen them assault people before [on May 8]. The police told us that
everything was alright and that they would do everything they could to prevent
the ‘sportsmen’ from assaulting us. But ten minutes before the attack, all the
policemen left the square. At 10 p.m. they
attacked. Everything was broken — cameras, laptops, everything. Then I was
knocked unconscious.”
Five people, including Romanenko,
were hospitalized. The Dnipropetrovsk Municipal Guard declined to comment.
But despite the intimidation
tactics, Dnipropetrovsk’s protests look set to continue. Further EuroMaidan
demonstrations in Dnipropetrovsk are scheduled for every day this week in
European Square, starting at 4 pm. The weather forecast predicts
temperatures as low as -14 degrees celsius.
