You're reading: The sights and sounds of two Maidans

 They were less than a mile away, but they seemed worlds apart. Ever since anti-government EuroMaidan demonstrations burst on the scene on Nov. 21, government supporters have periodically tried to show that they can draw crowds too. 

The pro-President Viktor Yanukovych crowd has earned the AntiMaidan nickname because they stand for a different Ukraine.

On the surface, the two rallies
have many things in common: music stages, field kitchens and massive military
tents filled with supplies. People wrapped in flags of their parties of choice walk
around, eating porridge and sipping tea. Journalists enter the scene and things
begin to change.

Many EuroMaidan supporters are
happy to share their stories without fear of going on the record. 

 It’s hard to find a story of similar weight at
AntiMaidan. Fearing repression, many people shun the media and agree to speak
off the record only. Some admit to joining the protests on the orders of their
superiors at work. Others say they are getting paid for manning the government
rallies.

Svitlana Naumenko and Alla
Kravchenko, both 59, made an exception. Retired teachers from Radomyshl of
Zhytomyr Oblast, they were dancing and holding small flags of the ruling Party
of Regions.

“We’re here to support our
President Viktor Yanukovych,” Naumenko said. “We stand for our believes, just
as people [at EuroMaidan] stand for theirs. Compared to us, though, they are
rich and can stand there and shout,” she added.

There are no signs of affluence
at EuroMaidan, though. People warming their hands near the steel barrels with
fire shiver from cold as much as their opponents in front of the parliament. On
their side of the fence, though, there’s a pervasive belief that the AntiMaidan
people get paid for their allegiance to the ruling party.

“They stand for money at that
rally; they are corrupt,” said Eduard Kupchenko, 22, a driver from Kyiv. He is
wearing a helmet — in case the riot police attack his camp again. “People should
be joining protests based on their convictions [not money],” he added.

“No, we are not here for
money,” said Antonina Mehrin, a 56-year-old pensioner from Zhytomyr.
She is one of the AntiMaidan supporters. 

But a few government supporters
told the Kyiv Post that they were getting paid Hr 300 (about $37) per day at
the same rally. “Why would I go to work if I can get paid here?” one
of them said, speaking on conditions of anonymity. Other AntiMaidan supporters
complained of the lack of food and garbage piling up everywhere, also off the
record. The stench of alcohol is another distinctive feature of the government
rally.

Many EuroMaidan protesters said
they felt sorry for their opponents. “I know they are hungry there,” said Vasyl
Hryniv, 63, a pensioner from Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. Standing in line for hot
tea, Hryniv said he knew that people on the other side of the fence had been threatened
to lose their jobs in state-run companies, if they refused to support the
government. “It’s a shame to force teachers out there [when they should be educating our young about
this chaos].”

To educate their people back home
and take the first-hand look at the events in Ukraine, international visitors have
been visiting EuroMaidan for the past few weeks.

Uliana Sytnyk, 30, arrived from
Hamburg, Germany on Dec.15. “I was watching it [the protests] on TV and was
moved by what’s going on in Kyiv,” she said. Sytnyk’s father is originally from
Ukraine so it was hard for her to stay indifferent. “Ukrainians are not in the
European Union, but they are struggling for European values right now, which is
amazing,” she added.  

A few foreign dignitaries manning
the stage that day conveyed the same thought in their speeches. Among them were
the Chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, Elmar
Brok, Member of the European Parliament from Germany, Rebecca Harms and US
Senators John McCain and Christopher Murphy.

“Ukraine will make Europe better
and Europe will make Ukraine better,” said McCain at EuroMaidan to an
overwhelming round of applause.

 At the same time, the scene at AntiMaidan was
visibly different. ”Today, they are calling us a fake Maidan,” the Party of
Regions deputy Yevhen Balytsky was speaking from the stage. “But, dear friends,
do you remember how their Maidan [rally] came to an end [last time]?” he
added, referring to the Orange Revolution, a popular people’s uprising that swept
Ukraine in 2004. “We will win, we have a strong president!”

The crowd in front of the
parliament did not erupt with applause. A few people waived their
yellow-and-blue flags, shrouding against the cold.

 Kyiv Post staff writers Oksana Grytsenko and Anastasia Forina can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].