The New Forces Movement party of Mikheil Saakashvili states that their activists were not present in the tent city near the Verkhovna Rada building, where supposedly only military and Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) veterans remained.
“Today, the free right to an unwanted power of the government and to any protest activity was finally destroyed. The authorities are mopping up all unwanted by force, dispersals, arrests,” the party said on its Facebook page on Saturday.
According to the party, there are seriously wounded among the detainees.
“The guys are detained on trumped up charges. And the morning “search” of the city tent was allegedly held in the framework of this case. They apparently did not have another way to liquidate the tent city,” the New forces Movement said.
It is noted that lawyers have now been mobilized to protect detained activists.
The party stresses that the protest rally near the Verkhovna Rada was legal, since on October 17 an application was filed for the permanent holding of a protest there.
“We recall that the New Forces Movement, on a joint decision with Vyzvolennia movement, left the camp more than a month ago. Our activists went to their regions to prepare protest actions, and the military and veterans of the military operation stayed in the tent city until the fulfillment of our demands by the parliament,” the party said.
The party also reminded that on Tuesday, February 27, after the adoption of the parliament at the first reading of the bill on the Anti-Corruption Court, People’s Deputy Yehor Sobolev asked the New Forces Movement to take away part of their tents to free the Mariinsky Park.
As reported, on Saturday morning the police seized nine RGD-5 grenades, ‘Molotov cocktails,’ and five smoke bombs during investigative actions in the tent city near the Verkhovna Rada.
