Stone Against Stone
An assembly of political parties supporting the policies of President Leonid Kuchma is scheduled for February 5 in Kyiv. This decision was made at the Ukraine House meeting of political forces presided over by Valery Pustovoitenko, leader of the People’s Democratic Party (NDP). The representatives of political parties reportedly decided last Monday to resume the activities of the Our Choice Is Leonid Kuchma Bloc.
The NDP press service has reported that the meeting was attended by representatives of about thirty parties, including the NDP, Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united), the Ukrainian Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Republican Christian Party, Ukrainian Peasants’ Party, Christian Democratic Party, Democratic Party, and others.
According to Mr. Pustovoitenko, the decision to hold the assembly was made in view of the worsened political situation in Ukraine. “We want to target our efforts at stabilizing the political situation in Ukraine, which will in turn improve the economic situation in our state. This is the main goal, and we will never allow the leaders of some parties to destabilize the political situation in this country,” the NDP leader said.
Speaking about the future cooperation of parties, Mr. Pustovoitenko said, “This will be a permanent bloc of the representatives of political parties and non-governmental organizations.”
Simultaneously, the New Generation All-Ukrainian Public Association has announced it is initiating the restoration of the Youth for Leonid Kuchma coalition.
On January 25 at 3 p.m., the Ukraine Without Kuchma protesters were to have moved toward the Archangel Michael statue, Ihor Mazur, chairman of the UNA-UNSO Kyiv city organization, announced. He said, “The municipal authorities had urgently requested removal of the tent” because they are beginning preparatory construction work to erect the Independence Monument. According to Mr. Mazur, since “we’ve notified them that there are no time limits to this campaign,” the tent will just be moved to a different place.
Meanwhile, regional authorities in Ukraine continue to liquidate the tent towns of the Ukraine Without Kuchma campaigners. Last Wednesday night in Sniatyn, Ivano-Frankivsk oblast, a group of people in police uniforms and hoods tore down the tent town without any documents or explanations. According to UNA-UNSO spokesperson Tetiana Chornovil, about ten tent dwellers, who are members of a local UNA-UNSO cell, were beaten up and taken to an undisclosed destination. Nothing is so far known about their plight, UNIAN reports.
Ten Ukraine Without Kuchma campaigners, who tried to pitch tents and put up a billboard in memory of Heorhy Gongadze on January 23 on Rivne’s Theater Square and were detained by the Berkut riot squad police, are being prosecuted for “violent resistance” to policemen on the basis of Article 185 of the Administrative Code of Ukraine, with the relevant materials having already been given the city court.
Addressing a press conference, Ukraine Without Kuchma initiators (regional leaders of SPU, UNA-UNSO, Sobor, etc.), disagreed with this interpretation of what happened, accusing the police of assault and battery resulting in grievous bodily harm. Two campaigners, who had their ribs broken, are now in the hospital. A judicial inquiry of these Rivne events was opened on January 24, only to be adjourned until the following Wednesday due to the absence of a defense lawyer. The detained campaigners announced that, if put under a civil arrest, they will go on a hunger strike.
In the next few days, Kyiv may see the arrival of some Kharkiv campaigners who will continue their hunger strike in front of the Internal Affairs Ministry, Volodymyr Proskurin, secretary of the Socialist Party of Ukraine oblast committee, informed the press. According to him, this will occur if the hunger strikers fail to receive a positive answer to their demands to dismiss from office Kharkiv Police Chief Kostiantyn Masly and to punishment other officers involved in removing the tents on Kharkiv’s Freedom Square on the night of January 12.
On the Sunday before last, Vyacheslav Pikhovshek said on his Epicenter television program that Minister of the Internal Affairs Yuri Kravchenko had held a ministry meeting, where he emphasized that the police should not interfere in political processes. But, as we see, the situation in the provinces remains unchanged. As a result, society is facing an aggravated confrontation instead of dialogue between the authorities and the opposition.
