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PRO-WEST UKRANIANS have staged the biggest protest rally in Kiev since the 2004 Orange Revolution, demanding that the government sign a key pact with the European Union and clashing with police.
Hundreds of protesters attempted to storm the government building — after the main rally attracted tens of thousands in central Kiev — but police forced them back with batons and tear gas, an AFP correspondent said.
The opposition called the rally after President Viktor Yanukovych’s government reversed a plan to sign a historic deal deepening ties with the EU, in a U-turn critics said was forced by the Kremlin.
Police said that some 23,000 people turned out but the opposition said attendance met its target of 100,000 people. The centre of Kiev was covered in a sea of protesters waving EU and Ukrainian flags.
[Sergei Chuzavkov/AP/Press Association Images]
The rally was by far the biggest in Kiev since the Orange Revolution nine years ago, which resulted in the annulment of presidential election results initially claimed by Yanukovych.
A hard core of protesters proceeded after the rally to the government building and tried to break through the police ranks, with some throwing stones while police held them back, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.
Some opposition leaders attempted to calm down the protesters to no apparent avail, as people used the sticks from their protest signs against policemen and shouted “Revolution!”.
Police held them back with batons and used tear gas and sound grenades.
[Efrem Lukatsky/AP/Press Association Images]
Another large group of protesters assembled near the building of the presidential administration and a smoke bomb was thrown, reports said.
But police did not make arrests or attempt to disband the rally, only standing guard at government building entrances.
‘We are not the USSR’
Protesters earlier assembled at the central Square of Europe for a peaceful rally protesting the government’s decision to scrap the signing of the landmark EU Association Agreement at a summit in Vilnius this week.
Some held posters saying “We are not the Soviet Union, we are the European Union” and “I Love EU”. The crowd also chanted calls for unseating Yanukovych and releasing ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko from jail.
The Kremlin, which wants Ukraine to join a Russia-led Customs Union, had threatened trade retaliation if Ukraine signed the deal. Yanukovych made a trip to Moscow earlier this month for secret talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
[Efrem Lukatsky/AP/Press Association Images]
Tymoshenko, still a symbolic leader for the opposition, published a statement today urging people to stay on central squares until the summit in five days and “force Yanukovych to change his humiliating decision and sign… the agreement.”
The rally, which lasted two hours, demanded that Yanukovych disband his government, free Tymoshenko, and take the path to European integration.
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The rest of Europe march in protest We ring Joe Duffy
Joe is that you trying to get people to ring in,nice pr lol
Will this affect the price of Chicken Kievs?
Yes my dear Troll they are going to skyrocket and become utterly unaffordable. Im sorry to have to give u the news i truly am.
Please remove this article. It is upsetting my debt slave minions and I don’t want them getting ideas that they could actually change the way the system works. Remove it I say…..or I will put a tax on the journal and it’s comments.
Ha ha brilliant Enda, love it!
And in Ireland a Man was arrested for throwing an Egg at the Tánaiste BMW, causing less than €200 worth of criminal damage.
A lot less than €200 damage, I would think; unless it was a fossilised dinosaur egg. Anyway, what had the BMW done wrong ?
Take note my irish friends…. That’s how you make change…. Not like the way ye took it up the arse… Blaming each other whenever a government hack fed ye piecemeal crap….
@W j d. You are being a bit unfair, people here do not have time to protest, they are to busy chasing shadows that our three main parties sent them to chase. That being, many are are to busy wanting to know was Gerry Adams in the IRA. So give them a break how can the FF,FG,Lb….LYNCH MOB…have time to protest?
If any posters here believe a majority of Ukrainians wish to join the E.U . then they are highly deluded.
Your future is at stake…. You make time.. It’s a sacrifice that does pay off…otherwise there is no tomorrow …
who da fuq are you ?? its really easy to sit behind your fake profile and tell whole nations what to do,you pompous ass of a man
The E.U. would love the Ukraine to become a member state.In fact it is a neo-liberals wet dream.Another 60 million people added to the workforce willing to work for far lower wages then the average Western European.
Typical Irishman, why don’t you head down to your public house for the Craic and relay stories of the fighting irish, I love hearing those stories and then watching ye cry into your beer… How embarrassing…
i bet you cant tell me one thing i said there that was typical of a irishman !!!!! go on ??? you are a sad sad man coming on here spouting your bland cliches about the irish !! yeah we get drunk and talk about the fighting irish and cry into our beer,jesus someone was raised on the “top of the morning” brand of irishness !!! you bring simple to a whole new level
The EU want the Ukraine in because it will drive down wages even further. As Poland and the others grow and become on a par with the West. 60mn Ukrainians will be another hammer to break workers rights and pay.
I think irish media has a lot to answer for in keeping the lid on things here, They have mastered spin and deception without as much as a passing glance for the future impact on the people and children. The regard for truth is outweighed by their self promotion and cronyism.
Nation….. Once again… You are in the E.U….. Forget nation once again… We are big family having as you say the Craic…. I love your bogs and water way , I love your simple way of life….
lol they are highly deluded. Imagine cutting off one mafia for another one lol
++++++++++++++++++++++++++1 Abe
W.J.d Dont like your rude comments and would prefer if you left some of us out of that equation.Some of us infact alot of us were fighting against all that is the EU.
make change? what? like come here once they’re in? not much change there.
Having been to kiev many man times over last ten yrs they have good reasons to protest. Its as corrupt as possible and justice is for those who can afford it.
Really irelands issues are nowhere related to that of Ukraine. Basically they want the lives and freedoms we already have.
When you earn less then 300 a month have no employment rights. Have a Mafia linked to government and to courts as well as police and when you can’t travel without visas anywhere outside your country except Russia then yes you may feel the need for revolution.
Our problems are our own. Greedy bankers greedy solicitors greedy estate agents greedy property sellers. That’s why you don’t get protests here we collectively f***ed ourselves over
So the solution to those problems is membership of the E.U.?They can have the freedoms and lives we have without joining the E.U.Last time I checked neither Switzerland,Iceland or Norway are members of the E.U. yet they are among the most prosperous places on the planet.
Switzerland, Iceland Norway and had the right idea we fecked up utterly joining the bloody EU
We define ourselves since independence by our relations to our closest neighbour.They were hesitant to intitiallu join the E.U. so we jumped right in.They determined a number of logical reasons to decline to join the Euro,so again we jumped right in with little consideration given towards the consequences.
One day maybe we can ditch our inferiority complex and start about whats best for ourselves.
Amen al shamen
I mean AMEN Seán!
They want the travel freedoms the eu justice systems we have.
They know what they want we should do that to get rid of Enda but the Irish are too lazy to get up and march. Dose anyone find it strange that the drunken crack smoking mayor of Toronto witch was stripped of his powers has a higher approval rating than anyone in our government???
Ireland desperately needs more Eastern Europeans at the moment
Ireland doesn’t need you anyway. That’s for sure.
For big and small business owners in Western Europe free movement of labour has been a godsend.Eastern European labour willing to work for pay and conditions that Western Euopeans would find intolerable.Whole swathes of the Irish and British working class have been consigned to a live on benefits or forced to emigrate,undercut by Eastern Europeans,just so the middle class doctor can have his cheap Polish nanny,housekeeper and plumber.
true really, modern day slaves, while they make a killing. mind you, the slaves don’t mind either once it hits their home bank where its worth more. they both win. a little trip home once, twice a year to check alls well in zlotys.
Life life to the full, live lidl.
Fighting irish my ass
The problem is Joe,they have the people scared out of their minds with poverty and lack of trade with EU if we got out.Keeping people fearful of their not being able to provide for their families and losing their jobs.
They keep the Irish occupied with bills and taxs and threats of prison if you dont do this and that.
They UK kept the Irish people hungry and downtrodden,this government and EU are doing the same.It needs one group of people to stand up and say no who the people can get behind and show them the way,Like back in the day of 1916.
Ah let them riot and then when they get their wish they will have egg on their faces and will riot to get out of the mess call the EU. European usurpers.
We are fighting against government, we are building night town
http://www.radiosvoboda.org/content/article/25177214.html
Long story to tell.
Please don’t write stupid comments before you understand what is happening in Ukraine. Don’t worry, we will not flood Ireland as much as Chinese do.
Also we lost more than 30 million people from 1910 to 1980, it is twice more than all nations on the planet together taken in that period. It is 7-8 Irish populations. 90% of people lost from communist hands. Please understand our history and wish us all the best to join the European family of lovely nations! Proud to be Ukrainian. Слава Україні!
as much as Chinese do? sure they’re not EU, what ya on about? you mean like the Polish do? of course ye will.
let’s hope ye don’t get in unless ye make changes in your own place first rather than take the easy way out i.e. come here, don’t you agree?
bla bla bla
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