You're reading: Opposition demands interior minister deal with beating of journalists in Kyiv center

Chairman of the Batkivschyna faction Arseniy Yatseniuk has demanded an urgent meeting with Ukraine's Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko because of the incident with the beating of a journalist of Channel 5, Olha Snitsarchuk, and a photojournalist of the Kommersant-Ukraine Newspaper, Vladyslav Sodel, according to the Web site of the Batkivschyna all-Ukrainian Union. 

Channel 5 reported earlier that the journalists were injured in a fight on Velyka Zhytomyrska Street.

Chairman of the parliamentary committee on freedom of speech and information Mykola Tomenko of the Batkivschyna faction sent a letter to the interior minister in connection with the incident.

“The actions of the participants in the anti-fascist rally organized by the authorities were actually the modern manifestation of fascism in our country,” Batkivschyna’s press service quoted Tomenko as saying.

In his letter to the interior minister, the committee members demanded that Zaharchenko immediately intervene and bring to justice all those involved.

A relevant application was supported by all members of the committee from the opposition, in particular, Oleksandr Abdullin, Mykola Kniazhytsky, Olena Kondratiuk, and Yuriy Stets.

Tomenko also said that he would initiate an urgent meeting of the committee on freedom of speech and information.