Kyiv city council turned into a wrestling ring as several fights broke out in the session hall on March 2.
Opposition deputies from Vitali Klitschko’s bloc tried to invite members of trade unions of two municipal markets to voice their protest against privatization of these major municipal properties, an item on the offical agenda that day.
The guards at the session hall allegedly started pushing and shoving, preventing members of the public as well as some city council deputies from entering the session hall. “In the morning we followed the procedure and submitted the list of people we invited to the city council session. But the power has ignored once again,” said heavyweight boxing champion Klitschko, who ended up in the middle of the fight. The opposition protests succeeded in cancelling these privatization plans for Volodymyrsky and Zhytniy markets that day.
Also on March 2, Verkhovna Rada deputy Kyrylo Kulikov had a fight with head of the city council Oles Dovhiy, who accused Kulikov of disrespecting his grandfather. Kulikov regularly comes to city council sessions to lobby on various issues. One of his crusades against construction on 17-23 Honchara Street ended successfully on Feb. 2, when the city council voted to halt building on the site because it is formally a part of St. Sofia Cathedral.
The city’s other major hot spots at the moment include Syayvo bookstore on 6 Chernovoarmiyska Streetthat was privatized by the city through a non-transparent auction recently, and a construction site on 3-5 Prorizna Street where permission for building an entertainment complex were issued by the city without the community residents’ consent. Protesting the construction, residents pulled down the fence around it on Feb. 12.
