Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

KYIV, Mar. 12 - Gypsies from the Zakarpatia oblast have sent a letter to the National Television Company of Ukraine, UT-1, complaining about the "offensive" use of the name of the Romany Gypsy national minority during a broadcast and have demanded an apology from the station, UNIAN reported Monday.

In the letter addressed to UT-1 president Vadym Dolhanov, the Zarkapatia Gypsies said that during the Mar. 4 broadcast of the program "Sim Dniv" the audience was asked "whether Ukrainian residents wish the Gypsy camp to remain on Khreshchatyk."

The letter also said that during the Mar. 5 broadcast of the station’s "Accents" program, the program’s anchor Volodymyr Lapikura called residents of the tent camp "political gypsies."

The letter said that camp life is a traditional form of internal organization for Gypsies and the authors of the letter consider the reference to Gypsy camp life within the context of the anti-presidential street protests in Kyiv to be incorrect, the report said.

In early March, a makeshift camp of around 50 tents on Kyiv’s main Khreshchatyk street was destroyed by authorities, purportedly in line with a court order.

Protesters of the camp have been demanding the resignation of President Leonid Kuchma in connection with his alleged involvement in the murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze.

Another, much smaller tent camp was set up in a central park in Kyiv near a monument to Ukraine’s national poet Taras Shevchenko, but was also destroyed by city authorities on Mar. 7, two days after it was erected.