Young anarchists stages labour day rally in Kyiv; attacked by violent provocateurs.
A rally organized by a number of anarchist groups under the avtonomia.net umbrella gathered around 150 participants in Kyiv’s Podil area to commemorate the Labor Day on May 1.
After completion of the rally, the participants proceeded towards the nearest subway station escorted by local police units.
At the junction of Konstyantynivska and Yaroslavska streets, the Kyiv Post witnessed a group of unidentified men charging violently against the column of peacefully returning rally participants; screaming and jumping. The almost 100 strong police force swiftly sprung into action, some cordoning of the rally participants, defending them. Other police officers counterattacked the charging aggressors, forcing them to flee with police running after them at high pace down Konstyantynivska Street. According to an Interior Ministry statement, the attackers numbered around 50. For a few minutes the situation was tense and chaotic with the police commanders shouting obscenities in Russian to their subordinates. Nobody was hurt during the incident.
One of the attackers, apprehended by police and forced to the ground was released after a brief negotiation with persons who appeared on the scene in a grey BMW SUV with the number plates covered with the logo of Pravyi Sector, a militant movement aspiring to national and ultra conservative ideas.
A Pravyi Sector spokesman, Artem Skoropadskyi, also appeared. He insisted that he was a random by passer strolling the street and residing in the neighborhood. He later said to the Kyiv Post that the group that attacked the anarchists was called Autonomous Nationalists and that the Anarchists were being targeted for a pro Russian line in their press release.
Earlier, during the rally a female participant fearing attacks from far-right groups said that violence against leftists groups was a long time overlooked issue that needed to be addresses by society. Many in Ukraine was however in denial because the rightist groups had gained glory by helping the armed defense of the country against Russia’s invasion. This aggression and a corrupt, almost feudal style capitalism was however by far Ukraine’s biggest problems, said the young phd student of sociology, who preferred not to have her name published, rejecting Putin’s “totally overblown” focus on the far right.
