Kyiv Erupts in Violent Clashes After “Dictatorship Laws” Are Passed
Part 3 of THE YEAR IN REVIEW pages 5-12 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXII No. 4 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 2014 $1/$2 in Ukraine Kyiv erupts in violent clashes aft er “dictatorship laws” are passed Five protesters dead, more than 1,300 injured by Zenon Zawada KYIV – The Euro-Maidan protest movement erupted in violent clashes this week as armed police clashed with gov- ernment opponents on Hrushevsky Street, just beneath the Cabinet of Ministers building in Kyiv, resulting in at least five deaths and more than 1,300 injured protesters, as well as at least 120 injured police. The conflict – the most violent since Ukraine re-estab- lished independence in 1991 – was ignited by draconian laws eliminating basic freedoms of speech and assembly that were approved by Parliament in a phony vote on January 16. Faced with arrest and the liquidation of the Euro-Maidan, which had been largely nonviolent, young radicals attempted to storm government buildings on January 19, igniting violence from both sides. “The people were psychologically exhausted after they were called two months ago to a revolution that instead resulted in the establishment of a dictatorship after peaceful protest,” said Petro Oleshchuk, a political science lecturer at Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. “Out of that came complete disappointment that spilled into aggression.” The Ukrainian government responded with a campaign of state terror in which activists were subjected to beat- ings, kidnappings, torture, shootings and murder carried UNIAN The scene on January 20 on Kyiv’s Hrushevsky Street, where violent clashes between the Berkut and protesters (Continued on page 4) broke out on January 19 and were continuing.
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