Kyiv Locked Down As Hundreds Protest Ukraine's Government
By Christopher Miller
KYIV -- Ukrainian authorities locked down the heart of the capital on November 15 as hundreds of demonstrators protested outside government buildings over poor economic conditions and rising prices for vital necessities such as natural gas and bread.
Police vehicles and officers in riot gear blocked streets around Kyiv's government quarter and stood guard with bomb-sniffing dogs in front of the presidential administration, the central bank, and parliament, where crowds braved freezing cold to demand lower utility prices and higher pensions.
Government officials claimed the protests marked the start of a Kremlin-orchestrated plan to "destabilize" Ukraine, which faces economic difficulties and a simmering war against Russia-backed separatists who hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces in the east.
Organizers of the protest included leaders of Opposition Bloc -- created from the remnants of the defunct party of former President Viktor Yanukovych, who was driven from power by protests known as the Euromaidan and fled to Russia in 2014 -- and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna party.
"Three years after the [Euromaidan protests], we can say that Ukraine's clan system has been revived. Unfortunately, we again have a president who is an oligarch of the highest level," Tymoshenko said of President Petro Poroshenko in a call to protest published on the party's site on November 14.
Her critics claimed she was merely fomenting unrest to further her own political ambitions, though some participants told RFE/RL that they had heeded Tymoshenko's call to protest out of frustration with the government. Others, however, said they were apolitical and had come out to earn some money.