One of the first shopping malls in Kyiv’s city center, Globus, was built in 2001. It is situated under Maidan Nezalezhnosti, or Independence Square.
Construction came during the heated protests against then-President Leonid Kuchma. With dozens of people living in tents on the square, officials shied away from breaking up the camp.
Instead, they brought excavators to start digging a huge hole, forcing protesters to leave. By chance, the hole eventually became a mall.
Effective methods never grow old. This is what approximately 2,000 people learned after they came to Maidan on the Nov. 22 seventh anniversary of the Orange Revolution.
Despite a court-ordered ban on protests, Berkut riot police took tender loving care of the pro-government camp, just like they did weeks ago outside the Pechersk court where ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was on trial.
The best spot on the square was also occupied to erect a Christmas tree a full month and a half ahead of the new year.
Just like weeks ago outside the court, pro-government activists blared music and recorded speeches, drowning out the anti-government protesters.
Demonstrators made an improvised stage on the stairs of Globus and strained to hear what their speakers were yelling into loudspeakers.
Then suddenly a gust of wind blew plastic bags, garbage, sand and dirt in the air. Lit candles went out. It appeared that the Globus mall switched its ventilation system into high gear and kept it on during the duration of the protest.
The only good news for those on stage was that the sand and dirt were soon blown away and all they had to cope with was hot air.
Certainly all the disruptions might have been a coincidence. But for most protesters, the events tracked with how authorities have been behaving lately – namely reviving old authoritarian tricks.
One can only wonder how the Globus mall might be used again in the future. Will it be shut down for “reconstruction” just as the square fills up with angry people with banners and tents? Will special coffee machines be installed that spit into protesters’ coffee after preparation?
As the paranoia of authorities and their disrespect for their own people deepen, one can only wonder what other coincidences might happen in exactly the right time and place.
