You're reading: Svoboda: Police not responding to incitement of ethnic hatred

Svoboda Party MP Yuriy Syrotiuk has said that the police are not responding to cases of incitement of ethnic hatred.

“What happened in Cherkasy on April 6 was beyond the pale. Party of Regions representatives came for an opposition rally, with the support of the regional state administration, in T-shirts with the inscription ‘Beat the Kikes,’ as evidenced by documents,” he said at a press briefing on Thursday.

He noted that police officers present at the event, had not reacted to this and had not detained the criminals.

“I personally detained the criminals, we passed them over to the police, recorded the number plate of the car from which this operation was managed, and passed this number to the prosecutor general and the police. Two weeks have already passed, but nobody has been detained so far,” Syrotiuk said.

He also said that he had personally detained and passed over to the police a student of Cherkasy College of Economics and Management of at the East European University of Economics and Management, Serhiy Tkachenko, but the police immediately released him.

He said that the authorities were inciting this national hatred.

Syrotiuk noted that if there is still no reaction from the president to these cases, this means that “the president is personally responsible for inciting ethnic hatred in Ukraine.”

“It’s unnecessary to shout ‘fascists’ in the Verkhovna Rada [Party of Regions MPs were shouting ‘fascists’ at the last plenary meetings during speeches by Svoboda faction representatives]. It’s necessary to comply with law,” he said.

Syrotiuk noted that under Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, people are to be imprisoned to eight years in prison for inciting ethnic hatred.

“Until the criminals go unpunished, while this is the official policy of the authorities, such cases will continue,” he said.