On the Brink of Civil Confrontation

UKRAINE - In Brief 02 Dec 2013 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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The events of last weekend shocked everyone.  On the morning of November 30 riot police attacked protesters at Maidan Square and brutally beaten the people, who were guarding the camp.  Shocking videos and photos flooded media and social nets.  It appeared that for this action the authorities brought in riot police from South-Eastern part of Ukraine where police is the most loyal to the ruling group (and is Russia-sympathetic).  By the end of the day several hundred thousand protesters went to the streets in Kyiv claiming for Yanukovitch dismissal.  Some estimates say that more than 500 000 people were on the streets furious with authorities’ actions.  To make matters worse, many MPs from the ruling party withdrew from the Party of Region and some media even reported that the Head of President Office resigned.The situation is very tense. In fact after bloodshed the riot police arranged we can claim that Yanukovitch became illegitimate for the majority of Ukrainians.  At the country, where millions of people were killed over the last century, peace and safety is the highest social value – wellbeing notwithstanding.  Probably, Yanukovitch did not know it.  To make matters worse, he tried to avoid responsibility blaming on TV evil policemen in this attack.  But the president’s cynical lie only made people even more furious and determined to get rid of Ynukovitch.The situation is aggravated with variety of provocations which, apparently, target to give police mandate for legal break-up of the protests.  On December 1st, some unknown people launched attack at the President Office throwing Molotov cocktails at riot police.  No surprise the police responded with fierce advanc...