Kyiv City Hall revisited

Posted on by adecolley

20131211-172140.jpgThe last thing I did before leaving Kyiv yesterday (Tuesday) was visit City Hall for the second time.

At 1am it was abuzz with activity, even though maybe 150 people were trying to sleep on the floor.

A good 200 more were nervously awaiting an expected police raid,  which was eventually repulsed earlier today. Reports made it sound like a Keystone Cops raid.

A young man, about 23, came up to me for a chat, sporting a Napoleon frown.

His English was quite good. He spoke about how much he detested the country’s corrupt elite. He was angry but not shaking with rage.

I listened for five minutes – it seemed like it was something that he needed to get it off his chest after what had been the most charged 24 hours since the police attacked protesters on Sunday December 1.

He then walked off. I noticed for the first time he was carrying in his right hand, a very nasty looking crowbar.

Continue reading Kyiv City Hall revisited

Lutheranska pictures, Kyiv

Posted on by adecolley

fire2This particular barricade was pretty flimsy by the standards of the barricades erected by protesters over the last week or so in central Kyiv.

About 100 metres away is an encampment.

It is about 30 yards square and maybe 600 metres from Independence Square in Kyiv.

Continue reading Lutheranska pictures, Kyiv

Euromaidan, Kyiv – December 9

Posted on by adecolley

20131209-131910.jpg

21.00 – people are heeding social media calls to swell numbers in the centre. Atmosphere fairly jolly. Protesters that I have seen in Lutheranska/Institutska area roaming the streets are not carrying sticks.

18.15 – in the last hour police have started to blockade a camp set up by protesters in Lutheranska.

This was set up by opposition activists yesterday opposite a row of riot police guarding an entrance to the Presidential Administration in a bid to disrupt government operations.

Two of the remaining three exits were sealed and an operation to remove a barricade 100 metres away began.

The oil drum fire used by protesters sizzles after police move to clear a small barricade
The oil drum fire used by protesters sizzles after police move to clear a small barricade

Continue reading Euromaidan, Kyiv – December 9

March of a million

Posted on by adecolley

20131207-213156.jpg

Well, by 8.30pm, it’s safe to say there weren’t a million people marching.

Several hundred thousand people passed through, popped in for a couple of hours or came to enjoy the Glastonbury vibe perhaps.

Before the attack on Lenin, the atmosphere was generally  good-natured with only one report of tension between factions in Marinsky Park.

Continue reading March of a million

Euromaidan, Kyiv – December 6

Posted on by adecolley

20131204-101800.jpgQuiet day on the barricades so far.

People mill around Independence Square, ferrying wood for fires, feeding each other, praying.

Protesters are calling for Ukrainians to join in the March for a Million on Sunday – Ukraine has a population of about 45 million.

Continue reading Euromaidan, Kyiv – December 6

Euromaidan’s tree of hope

Posted on by adecolley

20131205-184624.jpg

They might well end up calling this the Christmas Tree Revolution.

Until early last Saturday morning, it looked as though the pro-EU campaigning was about to fizzle out. That was when the paramilitary police – the dreaded Berkut – attacked people in Independence Square – horrifying millions across Ukraine and plunging the nation into crisis.

Lame excuses were made that the most important square in the country needed to be cleared so the Christmas tree preparations could be completed.

Continue reading Euromaidan’s tree of hope

Euromaidan, Kyiv, protests – December 4

Posted on by adecolley

20131204-101800.jpg
9pm Vitali Klitchko finishes speaking to a crowd of about 10,000. A quiet evening. At Parliament, more buses, all empty, are moved into the government- controlled area.

2.30pm Back at the Parliament. In their fenced off compound the Party of Regions faithful listen to a speaker. On the other side of railings they are stared at, like animals in a zoo, by opposition supporters.

There are jeers and laughs from outside the railings at the claims from the speaker on the podium. A man holds a two-sided square card about ten inches square, in a cleft stick above his head.

On one side is a picture of Yanukovych with the word ‘Tsar’, written on it. He flips the card to show Prime Minister Azarov with the wordl ‘Podilka’ on it (I don’t know what that means).

Continue reading Euromaidan, Kyiv, protests – December 4

Еuromaidan, Kyiv, protests – December 2

Posted on by adecolley

20131202-134506.jpgCrikey! Come to Ukraine on holiday and a national crisis emerges. Am in Dnipropetrovsk today but head to Kyiv tomorrow to watch events unfold, and report on them.

I’ve seen small protests in Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk in the last week, and been told, though can’t confirm, protests here in DP and Lugansk were attacked.

Students at a university class I taught at last Monday in Lugansk seemed unconcerned by events the previous weekend.

Continue reading Еuromaidan, Kyiv, protests – December 2