From our news desk:
Austria Protests Ukraine's Decision To Bar ORF Journalist
Austria has protested Ukraine's move to bar an Austrian reporter, calling the move an act of censorship.
Ukraine told Austria it would deny entry to Christian Wehrschuetz, the Kyiv bureau chief for the Austrian national broadcaster ORF, branding him a "threat to national security," an Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on March 8.
Wehrschuetz says Kyiv accuses him of crossing the bridge Russia has built between Crimea, which Russian forces seized from Ukraine in 2014, and Russia. He denies the accusation, saying that when he reported on the bridge in July his crew crossed it but he did not.
"The travel ban imposed on...Wehrschuetz in Ukraine is an unacceptable act of censorship," Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, who danced with Russian President Vladimir Putin at her wedding last year, said on Twitter on March 7.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman said on March 8 that the Ukrainian ambassador had been summoned and would meet the ministry's secretary general on March 11. Kneissl will be in Moscow that day to meet her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and dpa
At Least Three Anti-Feminist Activists Detained In Kyiv During Women's Rally
KYIV -- At least three anti-feminist activists were detained in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, during an International Women's Day rally on March 8.
Some 150 activists, mainly women, took part in the rally called "Women's March," on Mykhayliv Square in Kyiv, protesting domestic, sexual, and psychological violence against women.
They demanded that the government join the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.
Many were also protesting against what they called "kitchen slavery."
The feminists held posters, saying " My Body Is My Business." Some of them also held lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) flags.
A rival protest was held by dozens of people representing far-right nationalist groups.
They held posters saying "God! Fatherland! Patriarchate!" and "Feminism Destroys Ukrainian Families."
Hundreds of riot police officers separated the two groups. At least three anti-feminist protesters were detained after they clashed with police.
Earlier on March 7, Amnesty International urged the Ukrainian authorities to ensure that participants in events marking International Women's Day on March 8 are "protected from violence."
Oksana Pokalchuk, the director of the London-based human rights watchdog's office in Ukraine, called on Kyiv to prevent violence at events organized by feminist groups in Ukraine.
Pokalchuk also said that the Ukrainian authorities' "failure to ensure adequate protection" at such events in the last two years has led to "injuries to peaceful attendees at solidarity events."
In February, Amnesty International criticized the Ukrainian authorities' failure to prevent or investigate "numerous" human rights violations committed last year against rights activists -- in particular those defending the rights of women and members of the LGBT community -- political opponents, and ethnic minorities.