The confrontation of power and
opposition is taking place in the center of the Ukrainian capital. On
the Hrushevskoho street there are about two thousand protesters, many of
them wear gas masks. Protesters do not respond to calls to stop the
confrontation, not to commit crimes and to keep public order. The
protestors throw stones and firecrackers at the police. Tens or even
hundreds of people are hurt both from the side of the pr
otesters and the
police.
In
order to stop the violence and find a way out of the crisis, the
Ukrainian authorities have agreed to talk with the opposition.
Meanwhile, the clashes in the central streets of Kiev continue.
Photo: Voice of Capital
Yanukovych will seek to ensure peace and public order
Ukrainian
President Viktor Yanukovych said on Monday that clashes between police
and protesters in the capital Kiev threatened the entire country, as he
called for dialogue.
Photo: EPA
“I’ll
do my best to ensure public order, protect the rights of peaceful
citizens and use all the legal and other methods, envisioned by
Ukrainian law, to guarantee public peace and safety for all my
compatriots,” a speech addressed to the Ukrainian people and published
on the President’s website on Monday says.
Photo: Voice of Capital
Clashes
in the centre of Kiev began on January 19 after the eighth public
meeting held against the policy the Ukrainian government had adopted.
Several protesters tried to break through a cordon of police officers
who were guarding an area housing government offices.
Photo: Voice of Capital
"I
am convinced that such phenomena are a threat not only to the public in
Kiev but all of Ukraine," Yanukovych said in an address to the nation
published on the presidential website.
"I urge dialogue, compromise and calm in our native land."
Photo: EPA
The
current confrontation in Ukraine will not deteriorate into a civil war,
but talks with the government are impossible unless the anti-protest
laws, passed on January 16 are rescinded, the pan-Ukrainian organization
Svoboda said.
Photo: Voice of Capital
"The
government will fail to turn the standoff between the regime and the
Ukrainian people into a civil war. Svoboda is convinced that no talks
are possible with the government unless the causes of the growing
conflict have been removed and the anti-constitutional laws are
rescinded," it said in a statement on its website.
Photo: Voice of Capital
Svoboda laid the blame for the "bloody provocation" against the peaceful protests on the "Yanukovych regime".
"Viktor
Yanukovych, who signed the knowingly unconstitutional laws, is the main
instigator [of the standoff], not the young Ukrainians who have filled
Grushevsky street in Kiev to defend their rights," it said.
The
initial demands remain unchanged: protestors must not be persecuted,
all those who beat peaceful protestors must be punished, the Mykola
Azarov government must step down and the authorities must undergo a
thorough re-set (in early presidential and parliamentary elections).
Only this can be the subject of talks with the authorities," Svoboda
said.
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