KYIV, Feb. 26 (Ukrainian News) – Police on Sunday blocked the path of 12 far-right UNA-UNSO members on their way to participate in the Ukraine without Kuchma protest action planned for that day, a party member said.
According to Ihor Mazur, the chairman of UNA-UNSO’s Kyiv branch, militia held UNA-UNSO protesters back while breaking up a fight between the fans of Moscow- and Kyiv-based basketball teams scheduled to play in Kyiv that day.
Mazur said that the UNA-UNSO members were not involved in the fight, but were simply passing by at a bad time.
An Internal Affairs Ministry representative told Ukrainian News that the militia detained some of the people involved in the brawl, but could not confirm whether any UNA-UNSO members were arrested.
The representative stressed, however, that the arrests were not aimed against the Ukraine Without Kuchma demonstration.
“The two events simply coincided with one another,” said the militia representative.
According to the representative, there have been no serious incidents in the Ukraine Without Kuchma demonstrations thus far.
Around six thousand demonstrators gathered on Kyiv central Khreschatyk street on Sunday demanding that President Leonid Kuchma resign, mostly in connection with his alleged involvement in the disappearance and presumed murder of opposition journalist Georgy Gongadze.
