You're reading: Woman hospitalized after attack at controversial building site in Kyiv

A woman was hospitalized on April 20 after individuals identifying themselves as representatives of Zhytloinvestbud UKB construction company violently attacked protesters at a disputed construction site in south east Kyiv.

A number of the perpetrators were arrested by the police at the crossroads between Teplovoznoy and Zdolbunovskoy streets in Darnitskiy region, and several people were injured, including one woman who was taken away by ambulance.

Tensions have been building between local residents and the developer since mid-March. The protesters argue that the developers are illegally building on a lake, while the construction company insists it is merely a groundwater area, and therefore it is legal to build there.

The land was sold by the Kyiv City Administration in December 2014, and the State Architecture and Building Inspectorate then issued the company with a license to build. The attackers arrived at the site for the first time on April 19, according local resident and activist Serhiy Kutsenko, and identified themselves as representatives of Zhytloinvestbud.

Videos posted online show a group of men dressed in black uniforms arriving in camouflaged cars with license plates bearing the word “Maidan.” The men proceeded to attack the unarmed protesters on April 19, destroying tents erected by protesters, and throwing large stones. Gas canisters were also thrown. According to Kutsenko, several protesters were injured in the April 19 incident.

In April 2015, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko vowed to save the lake on a visit to the area, but until April 20 this year failed to comment further. The activists say the construction of another 1,276 apartments will degrade the area’s infrastructure, and they will also lose what they consider a community recreational lake.

Kutsenko, speaking to the Kyiv Post by phone on April 19, said that the activists have collected 1,700 signatures and they have also been advised by architects that the construction would be unsafe, and that it might also affect surrounding buildings.

Leader of the Radical party Oleh Lyashko waded into the scandal in parliament on April 20. He accused Klitschko of covering up an illegal construction project, and destroying the natural habitat of beavers that live in the lake.

In a long-awaited statement, Klitschko said on April 20 that the land was allocated fairly and maintained it was not actually a lake. He also said the two sides must reach a compromise and asked the construction company not to allow the situation to descend into violence.

Klitschko also noted that some of the apartments would be allocated to the Elita-center fraud victims, who invested money into a scam building project in 2006. But activists have maintained that the Elita-center victims were being used as a cover by the authorities and the developers to push through with their illegal construction. The Elita-center victims will be allocated 8 percent of the apartments.

The main issue, according to Allan Slipher, a land adviser to Klitschko, is that under the current legal procedures the views of residents are not taken into account when the city sells land or the State Architecture and Building Inspectorate issues construction licenses.

(Video of clash on April 20, Channel 17)

Kyiv Post staff writer
Isobel Koshiw can be reached at [email protected]