Ukraine's European Revolution?

[Sheilbh]

Ukraine protests: it is time to go, opposition leaders tell president
Viktor Yanukovych called on to resign by opponents – including Vitali Klitschko – as protesters continue to control parts of Kiev
Shaun Walker in Kiev
theguardian.com, Monday 2 December 2013 17.56 GMT
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A troika of opposition leaders, including the heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, called on President Viktor Yanukovych to resign on Monday, as parts of Kiev remained under the control of throngs of anti-government protesters.

Police have deserted the centre of the city, while thousands of people blocked entrances to government buildings and gathered again on Independence Square.

It is unclear, even to those involved, whether events constitute a temporary gap in the matrix or the cusp of a genuine revolution, but there is anger among those on the streets that will be hard to quell.

Yanukovych, blindsided by the ferocity of the protests against his decision to turn away from an integration pact with the EU in favour of improved relations with Russia, has kept a low profile since the protests began and on Monday was reported to have told a TV station that he still planned to leave on a long-planned trip to China due to start on Tuesday.

In his first public address since the unrest began, the president said in the television interview that "any bad peace is better than a good war", and called on Ukrainians to abide by the country's laws.


Protesters in independence square in Kiev on Monday call for the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych. Photograph: Anatoly Maltsev/EPA

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on a visit to Armenia, blamed outside actors for the protests, which he said amounted to an attempt to unsettle Ukraine's legitimate rulers.

"This reminds me more of a pogrom than a revolution," Putin told reporters on a visit to Armenia.

After meeting with the far-right nationalist leader Oleh Tyahnybok, and Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a key ally of the jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Klitschko said: "Yanukovych is simply not fit to rule.". The trio called for snap parliamentary and presidential elections, and hope enough of Yanukovych's own supporters join ranks with them to force a no-confidence vote in parliament on Tuesday morning.

"This president has crossed a red line," said Yatsenyuk. "This is not the demand of the opposition, this is the will of the Ukrainian people. Look at the streets."

The protests began last week, after Yanukovych said he would not sign the EU pact as planned at a summit in Vilnius last Friday, following extreme pressure from Russia and dire economic forecasts. Daily protests appeared to be petering out when riot police violently cleared Independence Square, hub of the 2004 Orange Revolution, of its last few hundred protesters early on Saturday morning. The move, combined with a subsequent court ban on further protests, backfired, as several hundred thousand people took to the streets on Sunday.

Mocking the authorities' claim that the square had been cleared in order to erect a giant plastic Christmas tree, protesters dismantled the half-made tree, using its branches to build makeshift barricades and draping flags with obscene slogans about Yanukovych on its carcass. Later in the evening they moved to take over two official buildings, with no police resistance.

The doors of the House of Trade Unions, a Soviet-era behemoth occupied by protesters, were plastered with posters featuring Yanukovych's silhouette, a sniper wound dripping crimson blood just below the shadow of his trademark quiff.


Protesters occupy Kiev's city hall after protests on Sunday evening. Police have retreated from most of the centre of Kiev. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP

At the city hall, the odour of stale sweat wafted through the colonnaded Stalin-era function rooms from the bodies of hundreds of sleeping protesters, many of whom have travelled from across the country to protest in the capital. The ground floor windows were smashed, and "Revolution HQ" had been daubed in black paint on its stone facade.

"We've just had enough, we're sick of this," said Alexander Yabchenko, a 33-year-old oncologist from Lviv in western Ukraine, who had travelled to Kiev to take part in the protests and was now offering medical help to those injured in the clashes at a makeshift medical centre inside the city hall. "I'm not part of any political party but I understand that only by trying to be more European can we end our troubles. Even from my own experience, I see so many problems with the medical system, and we just need to modernise."

As government reaction was muted, rumours swirled among the protesters, many of whom were glued to social networks. Almost all of the rumours turned out to be false, but it did not stop them from spreading like wildfire. There was chatter about hostages taken by the Berkut riot police [ ], and young students beaten to death. There were whispers of secret flights from Moscow delivering crack teams of Russian riot police to Ukraine, or the more plausible suggestion from opposition leaders that Yanukovych was bringing riot police in from his strongholds in the east and south of the country, thinking them more reliable than the capital's own forces. Tyahnybok said on Monday afternoon that 5,000 "well-trained sportsmen" had been brought to the capital.

The police have retreated from most of the centre of Kiev, but cordons of riot police still guard the presidential administration, scene of violent clashes on Sunday in which more than 100 police were injured. On Monday, the interior ministry said a total of 150 riot police and other officials had been injured, while 165 protesters had been injured, with 109 requiring hospital treatment.

A spokesman for the prime minister said on Monday that the government was not planning to impose a state of emergency, and threats that city hall would be retaken by force if protesters did not vacate it had not been fulfilled by Monday evening.


Heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko answers questions after a press conference held by opposition leaders in Kiev. Photograph: Filip Singer/EPA

The European Commission president José Manuel Barroso said on Monday that he had spoken on the phone with Yanukovych and would receive a Ukrainian delegation in the coming days to discuss integration. Yanukovych has insisted that Ukraine's future still lies with Europe, and former trade minister Petro Poroshenko told the Guardian there was still a chance the agreement could be signed.

"The people protesting need to feel they have some kind of voice," said Poroshenko. "If that doesn't happen, then there is a chance things will develop according to a worse scenario. Any spark now could cause a full-blown explosion."At this point, it is unclear whether even a U-turn on the EU pact would be enough, with the protest acquiring a personalised vitriol against Yanukovych.

Klitschko said opposition leaders were in discussion over selecting a unified candidate to run against Yanukovych in the elections they hope to force. Recent opinion polls have put the boxer neck and neck with the current president.

"If the government does not resign, the people will force them to resign," said Klitschko with a smile, refusing to elaborate further.

It helps put Europe's problems and UKIP hyperventilation about the EUSSR into context. For a lot of Europe, especially Ukraine, Turkey and the Balkans the EU's still a cause of great hope despite the fact that it'll mainly come armed with clipboards of recommended actions and admonitions.

I loved this cover of 'Putin and the children' from a Ukrainian magazine:


Apparently the anti-gay laws in Russia were a big part of Putin's campaign against the EU. Posters saying Ukraine would have to have gay adoption if they joined Europe etc.

Some images of the protests:
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/12/days-of-protest-in-ukraine/100638/

[Tamas]

Yeah I think it should put all the anti-EU whiners into perspective: with all the obvious shortcomings of the EU, it still provides a life that is the dream and aspiration for untold millions just outside of it`s borders, alone.

[Syt]

General user commentary on German paper "Die Zeit": protests are instigated and financed by the EU in a power grab, infringing the rights of the democratically elected government. Also: the EU is just as bad as Russian in their attempts to influence the Ukraine.

[Tamas]

General user commentary on German paper "Die Zeit": protests are instigated and financed by the EU in a power grab, infringing the rights of the democratically elected government. Also: the EU is just as bad as Russian in their attempts to influence the Ukraine.

[Sheilbh]

General user commentary on German paper "Die Zeit": protests are instigated and financed by the EU in a power grab, infringing the rights of the democratically elected government. Also: the EU is just as bad as Russian in their attempts to influence the Ukraine.

There was a post on the Telegraph's blog page about how we haven't surrendered our sovereignty to the EU (or NATO for that matter) because we could very easily withdraw if we wanted. We've lent it at worst and would need something similar even if the EU was just a single market. This response made me laugh and cry:

Sovereignty not surrendered to EU! That is a bit like telling someone living in the Warsaw ghetto during WWII that he was free. Technically possibly correct but in reality utter nonsense.

[KRonn]

I'm sure the Ukrainian people have had enough of Soviet and/or Russian dominance, and don't want to chance having Russia gain more influence over them, given the directions Russian govt has been going.

[Razgovory]

The next Combat Mission: Shock Force is going to take place in the Ukraine.  Since the last one took place in modern Syria, I think they are really pushing their luck.

[Valmy]

Sovereignty not surrendered to EU! That is a bit like telling someone living in the Warsaw ghetto during WWII that he was free. Technically possibly correct but in reality utter nonsense.

Must have been Marty.

[Syt]

German internet opinion seems to always be to not get involved anywhere, ever (unless we send aid goods ... but those might still end up in the wrong hands!), anti-military, and condemning any suggestion that Western countries, in general, are not as bad as, say, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine or China when it comes to handling protests, foreign politics etc.

[DGuller]

I'm sure the Ukrainian people have had enough of Soviet and/or Russian dominance, and don't want to chance having Russia gain more influence over them, given the directions Russian govt has been going.

I'm not so sure.

[Sheilbh]

I'm sure the Ukrainian people have had enough of Soviet and/or Russian dominance, and don't want to chance having Russia gain more influence over them, given the directions Russian govt has been going.

I don't know. It's not clear what the majority want. My understanding is Ukraine really is 50-50 on Russia v Europe. I think around 30% of the population speak Russian as their first language after all.

Every election seems to go like this in 2010, with the West generally backing pro-EU candidates and the East pro-Russia ones:

[Valmy]

German internet opinion seems to always be to not get involved anywhere, ever (unless we send aid goods ... but those might still end up in the wrong hands!), anti-military, and condemning any suggestion that Western countries, in general, are not as bad as, say, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine or China when it comes to handling protests, foreign politics etc.

I roomed with a German guy in France and he openly said he would not join the military or resist even if the US had invaded with the intent of forcing every German into slavery.  That was some hard core wimpy Euroness.

[CountDeMoney]

Don't these people have jobs?

Unemployment Rate in Ukraine remained unchanged at 8.60 percent in the second quarter of 2013 from 8.60 percent in the first quarter of 2013.

Guess not.  Better than a lot of other parts of Europe, though.  Or where the Ukraine is, for that matter.

[Valmy]

8.6%?  What the Baltimore-DC metro area wouldn't give to have unemployment that low.

[CountDeMoney]

We're down around 7.1%, I believe.  I'm the .1%.  Just like Ed!