Thousands rally in Odessa in support of accession to Customs Union (CIS), Eurasian.

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Thousands of people in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa rallied on Saturday, December 14, in support of their country’s accession to the Customs Union created by Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.

The demonstrators walked along the streets in what they called a March for Alternative, chanting “Odessa for the Customs Union,”

“Away with the Orange Plague,” “We take no orders from the West” and “No to Eurohysteria!” They urged the Ukrainian authorities to resolve disputable issues concerning European integration in a referendum.

“This rally was initiated by the people of Odessa, and the authorities have nothing to do with it. There is no need to go to Kiev to state one’s position,” one of the rally organisers told reporters.

He said thousands of people from Odessa had travelled to Kiev on Friday, December 13, to take part in an anti-Maidan protest organised by the ruling Party of Regions.

Participating in the march were also representatives of the Rodina (Motherland) party, the Communist Party, Youth Unity, Vitrenko Bloc, and veterans’ organisations. They adopted a resolution which says that “the course towards European integration assumed by the authorities runs counter to the historical and cultural traditions of Ukraine and severs ties with other brotherly states.

Odessa is making its choice today: we are for a stable and democratic state, we are for friendship with Russia, for the Customs Union, and for the Eurasian alternative for Ukraine.”

Attempts to organise rallies in support of the Ukrainian opposition have failed in Odessa.The public movement Ukrainian Choice earlier issued a strong call for Ukraine’s accession to the Customs Union.

The call was supported by the movement’s allies in several Ukrainian cities where they made the decision to ask the president, government and parliament to “protect the choice of the majority of Ukrainian citizens, fulfill their will and join the Customs Union.”

“Ukraine should defend an economically beneficial vector of foreign economic integration. And we will exert every effort to do that,” the movement’s activists in different parts of the country said.