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A wreath which Russian Consul General in Lviv Oleg Astakhov was to lay at the Lviv military cemetery was grabbed away and treaded to pieces. A wreath which Russian Consul General in Lviv Oleg Astakhov was to lay at the Lviv military cemetery was grabbed away and treaded to pieces as a Russian diplomatic delegation was on its way to the Hill of Glory memorial.

"The wreath I was to lay at the Hill of Glory memorial at the military cemetery was treaded into pieces," the consul general said in an interview with the ZIK magazine.

"Russia and the whole of the sane world are celebrating Victory Day. All of these games on this day are an insult to the memory of those buried here, who sacrificed their lives to allow us to live in a normal society," he said.

WWII veterans and activists of public organizations complained that assailants would tear off their orange-and-black memorial ribbons and insult them. Some women hid their orange-and-black ribbons in their pockets and produce them again past a police cordon at the Hill of Glory memorial.

Activists of the Svoboda nationalistic organization, who had gathered at the other side of the police cordon, chanted anti-Russian slogans.

Despite a court ban on mass rallies on Victory Day, large groups of opponents of Victory Day celebrations and the use of red banners marched along Lviv streets, a Channel Five correspondent reported. Clashes with police occurred at May 9 venues on Monday.

Channel Five also aired footage of Svoboda activists' clashes with opponents, when a shot was fired at a nationalist with a pneumatic pistol.

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