Police Pull Out of Kiev Square After Move on Demonstrators

[Omaha Steve]

Source: NYT

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN and ANDREW E. KRAMER

KIEV, Ukraine — After a night of clashes with protesters in Independence Square, security forces appeared to pull back Wednesday from the central plaza in Kiev where demonstrators have been rallying against the government of President Viktor F. Yanukovich for more than two weeks.

The police had taken control of a large section of the square and brought in front-end loaders and other heavy equipment to clear it. But by 11 a.m., the police presence had dwindled and pedestrians were walking freely through the square.

The interior minister, Vitaliy Zakharchenko, issued a statement on Wednesday saying the overnight crackdown had been needed to ease traffic congestion in Kiev and promised that there would be no dispersal of the protesters in the square.

“No one infringes on citizens’ rights to peaceful protests,” he said. “But we cannot ignore the rights and legal interests of other citizens.”

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/world/europe/police-storm-kiev-square-as-crisis-grows.html?partner=EXCITE&ei=5043&_r=0

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Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
After Clashes, Police Pull Out of Kiev Square: Ukraine’s authorities halted their crackdown in Independence Square after a night of clashes with protesters who have been rallying against the government of President Viktor F. Yanukovich.

[iamthebandfanman]

1. nothing like a bunch of right wingers

fighting with each other ....

who will win ?
the corporate centrists? the far right nationalists?

who cares as long as there are left wing statues to destroy and put on front pages

[levp]

2. I am very, very left...

...but Lenin is no friend of mine.

Secondly, is European Union for "far right nationalists" only? To be sure, there some in Kyiv's Independence Square - just like there were some anarchists in Zuccotti Park. But they do not constitute a majority in any way.

"The poll by GfK Ukraine found that 45% favored the association agreement with the EU, while only 14% said they want to join Belarus and Kazakhstan in a Russian-led economic bloc called the Customs Union."

(WSJ)

Ask yourself: if you lived in Ukraine and had to choose, would you prefer Russia or Western Europe as your main ally? Before answering, consider hundreds of years of Russia treating Ukrainians as their servants (at best) or literally starving them to death ("Holodomor of 1933&quot . Also consider Anna Politkovskaya, RIA Novosti, Pussy Riot, Sergei Magnitsky and so on.

[iamthebandfanman]

3. Oh, id never deny the

horrors that occurred to former soviet states... Ukraine really receiving some of the worst..


my point still stand tho.. just a bunch of right wingers arguing with themselves while finding statues they all mutually hate to tear down as some sort of symbolic jester...
when in reality, Russia could care even less about lenin than the people of Ukraine these days.... (just like folks in china probably only read about a paragraph about Mao in their 'history' classes)..
hell, I wouldn't even blame lenin for the incident (who was long dead when it happened)... just another one to chuck up to ole stalin... if you ask me.
but his statue on the ground with a pick wielding nationalist coming down full strength makes one hell of a photo.


btw, Russia isn't the only 'communist' country to have attempted to use starvation to sway citizens to stop resisting.. mao actually did it pretty regularly as well.. probably the most used incidents when im being attacked by someone on the right as an example of left wingers being evil (yes, because we're all communists.. duh.. lol)...

again tho...
they are arguing over which corrupt party of the right will take over for the corrupt party of the center.
not sure what that has to do with lenin.

[levp]

4. Considering...

...that I was born in Kyiv and my wife's family currently lives there, I respectfully, but firmly disagree.

In fact, I'd draw a direct comparison between OWS and the people of Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square). What's more, the people in Ukraine are more likely (than OWS) to reach their goals for few reasons:
- they have clear demands and a leader: several opposition parties and, personally, a very charismatic boxing champion Vitali Klitschko;
- they are very ... stubborn? rugged? Perhaps, both. At any given time there are between 5 and 50 thousand people in that square, despite brutal police actions (NYPD would look like angels in comparison), below freezing temperatures, snow, etc. There are also mass protests in other cities.

Forget Lenin - the episode with his statue toppled is just that - an unfortunate episode, not the entire narrative.

And yes, sometimes people have to pick the better of two evils. Don't we have the same choice every election here? Yet I have never missed a vote ever since we became US citizen.

Lastly, please read accounts of the people who are there, like this one: "Volunteer with special needs helps EuroMaidan", before dismissing all of them and their fight altogether.