After successfully meeting the threshold to elicit a response for a petition asking U.S. President Barack Obama to impose visa and financial sanctions against President Viktor Yanukovych, a new application for action is circulating. Started on Nov. 29, the online petition asks the American leader to support the peaceful overthrow of the Ukrainian government. Launched on petitions.whitehouse.gov, it has already received around 48,000 online signatures.
It comes on the
heels of another petition filed on Nov. 26 that asked Obama
to impose sanctions against President Viktor Yanukovych and top Ukrainian
officials for backtracking on European integration policies. It gathered
119,000 signatures in just five days, surpassing the 100,000-signature
threshold to elicit an official response from the White House.
The new petition, in particular, reads:
The current
government of Ukraine is corrupt and (does) not think about people.
The country has a terrible road conditions, a large number of people are
living beyond poverty, officials and their families are above the law.
President of Ukraine and the ruling party massively stolen state budget,
fool the people, and have repeatedly demonstrated their arrogant attitude on
it. They do not fulfill their duties.
The last straw was the rejection of President of Ukraine Viktor
Yanukovych to sign an association agreement with the EU.
We ask to support Ukraine in the overthrow of the current government
peacefully, holding democratic elections for a new parliament and bring to
justice all present perpetrators of state power.
Several more
petitions were started in parallel also asking the U.S. government to impose
sanctions against the Yanukovych administration and prevent forceful
crackdowns. Some were started on Nov.30 after the Ukrainian police used brutal
force to disperse demonstrators in Kyiv, using truncheons and physical
violence, sending dozens to the hospital. They have already gathered from 1,500
to 8,000 signatures online.
The U.S. embassy and
State Department have already officially condemned the Nov.30 morning police violence.
In a statement posted on its website the same day the embassy said. “We urge the government of Ukraine to respect the rights of civil
society and the principles of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, which
are fundamental to the democratic values that are the bedrock of our strategic
partnership,” the statement reads. “We support the rights of citizens to air
their views through an open and free media and through non-violent rallies.”
European officials were also outraged. “The
use of force against peaceful demonstrators in Ukraine is simply
unacceptable,” President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz tweeted this
morning.
Meanwhile, European Parliament member and
Eastern Partnership vice chairman Jacek Saryusz-Wolski shared in his twitter a link
to another petition of Ukrainians asking for
sanctions against Ukrainian politicians and oligarchs.
As another major demonstration started today at
noon, U.S. and EU ambassadors have asked the Interior Ministry to avoid the use
of force and to ensure security at the event.
“On the eve of the demonstration scheduled to
take place on Sunday at 12:00, we called on the Ministry of the Interior to
make all efforts to avoid escalations, refrain from excessive use of force and
to effectively protect the security and the freedom of peaceful assembly of all
citizens,” the ambassadors said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Anastasia Forina can be
reached at [email protected].
