A mostly peaceful assembly in front of the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv on Oct. 22 ended with a brief clash of protesters with police who tried to block demonstrators from transporting sound equipment to their tent camp.
Up to 3,000 people turned out for the Sunday rally under clear, crisp October skies amid the ongoing tent protest which started on Oct. 17. The most serious incident took place when protesters announced that police blocked a truck transporting their sound equipment from being transported to the Rada building. After a brief clash between protesters and police, officers allowed the demonstrators to carry the sound equipment to the stage.
The October tent protest is one of the largest anti-government demonstrations in Ukraine since the EuroMaidan Revolution that drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power on Feb. 22, 2014.
The protesters renewed their calls for the creation of an independent anti-corruption court, restrictions on lawmakers’ immunity from prosecution and changes to the electoral law that reduce the influence of Ukraine’s oligarchs.
President Petro Poroshenko, who controls the largest faction in parliament, is blamed for stalling these reforms. Protesters called for his resignation. He is blamed for overseeing a kleptocratic oligarchy.
Member of parliament Sergii Leshchenko, who belongs to the president’s faction, accused Poroshenko of blocking reforms that harm his business interests.
Leshchenko said that Poroshenko had partnered with tycoon Rinat Akhmetov to profiteer from Rotterdam+, an overly generous pricing formula for domestic suppliers of coal. Leshchenko accused Poroshenko of buying out the debts of Akhmetov’s energy group DTEK, making the president effectively a co-owner.
He also accused Poroshenko of letting pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk gain control of the nation’s liquified petroleum gas market.
The crowd approvingly chanted “Shame,” “Poroshenko to jail, and Groysman with him,” referring to Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, and “Ukraine isn’t Roshen,” referring to the president’s confectionary conglomerate.
Former Odesa Oblast governor and leader of the Movement of New Forces, ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, didn’t rule out that Poroshenko would retaliate.
He said that three Georgians connected with him had been kidnapped, beaten and then deported from Ukraine to Georgia by the Interior Ministry’s National Guard. He named his friend David Makishvili, who fought against Russia-backed separatist troops in the Donbas, his former driver Mikhail Abzianidze, and his former security guard Georgiy Rubashvili. They were transported by plane with bags over their heads, he said, by the order of Poroshenko. Saakashvili said the crimes are a warning of his own possible deportation.
Interior Ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko told the Kyiv Post he could not comment on the matter, while the Presidential Administration did not respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, as opponents called for his resignation, Poroshenko flew to the war front. He visited the town of Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast with Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak on Oct. 22.
