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18Feb15

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Hundreds of protesters block Ukraine's parliament building in Kiev

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Around 400 protesters have gathered near the Ukrainian parliament's building in Kiev, a TASS correspondent reported from the scene.

The demonstrators are chanting "All Deputies Are Separatists" and "Give Back Our Money." The protest action was organized by people who lost their money in Ukrainian banks. Earlier, they blocked the Institutskaya Street in the capital's center when marching toward the parliament building.

At the moment, several demonstrations are underway in the Ukrainian capital. A commemorative event is held on Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) in memory of those who died last year in mass protests.

Last Friday, on February 13, around 200 people picketed Kiev's mayor office in Ukraine, protesting against a hike in metro fares. The protesters were mostly young people aged 15-20 wearing camouflage and masks. Several women came to the mayor's office barefoot, saying that "the current authorities took off our shoes." From February 7, the metro fare in Kiev doubled from 2 hryvnias to 4, triggering panic buying of cheap tokens.

On Tuesday, February 17, around 50 women -- wives and mothers of Ukrainian servicemen trapped in Debaltsevo -- blocked a street near the Defense Ministry headquarters.

The growing number of protests triggers increasing repressions from the Kiev authorities. Volodymyr Ischenko, deputy director of the Center for Social and Labor Research, said the number of repressive actions towards participants of peaceful demonstrations in Ukraine "is very high." "It exceeded even the level of repressions during Maidan [mass protests in the Ukrainian capital in 2014 that eventually resulted in ouster of then-president Viktor Yanukovych]," Ischenko said.

[Source: Itar Tass, Kiev, 18Feb15]

Ukraine Unrest

This document has been published on 19Feb15 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.