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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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| Information | | |
Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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24Jan14
Anti-government protests in Ukraine spread beyond Kiev
Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters rallied in several regions across Ukraine on Thursday evening and Friday to demand the resignation of local authorities.
In the western Volyn region, protesters besieged the provincial state administration building, forcing the regional governor to step down.
In five other western regions - Lvov, Ternopol, Ivano-Frankovsk, Rovno and Khmelnitsky - demonstrators attempted to occupy the administrative buildings, venting their anger over new legislation limiting public assembly and demanding regional leaders' ouster.
Demonstrators also staged protests in Sumy and Zhitomir regions in the north, Chernovtsy in the west and Cherkassy in the center.
Meanwhile, the capital of Kiev, which has been the epicenter of two months of protests, is relatively calm. Demonstrators and riot police held a truce as President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders launched rounds of negotiations to ease the tension.
Yanukovych has also called for an extraordinary session of the parliament next week to discuss ways out of the ongoing political crisis.
The call for the emergency meeting came amid deadly clashes between riot police and demonstrators, who took to the streets to protest against the controversial anti-protest law, since a new wave of anti-government protests erupted last weekend in Kiev.
At least three people were reportedly killed and hundreds of others, including police officers, injured in the clashes.
The protests started on Nov. 21 with peaceful demonstrations demanding the country's European integration, but later turned violent with protesters demanding impeachment of the president, resignation of the government and dissolution of the parliament.
[Source: Xinhua, Kiev, 24Jan14]
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