03/12/2013 09:10
Thousands of protesters keep vigil at barricades in central Kiev
Ukrainian opposition activists have entrenched themselves in the center of the Ukrainian capital, taking night watch on barricades ready to repel any possible police attack, RT reported.
The cordons erected by the pro-European opposition on Maidan Square are constantly patrolled by activists.
Demonstrators have been pouring water next to a barricade leading to the presidential administration building, hoping that a possible police assault would be hindered by the icy surface, RIA reported. Protesters also blocked the entrance to the government’s clubhouse, setting up tents and burning bonfires near the barricade.
Thousands of other protesters in the meantime burned bundles of firewood and drinked hot tea to stay warm in -3 degrees Celsius weather. A few hundred more have made it to the Oktabrisky Palace some 600 metres away from the main square.
As the city awakes to a new day, the presidential administration building is constantly under guard by special forces. There is also a heavy police presence next to the Ukrainian government building.
On Monday opposition leaders formed a column of protesters that marched to the Ukrainian government headquarters and encircled it, declaring they would stay there all day to prevent the government from functioning. Protesters have also announced a national strike beginning Monday.
Eight buses with officers from the Berkut riot police squad are parked in the courtyard of the government building, but they are not interfering with the demonstrators. Police are guarding the entrances to the cabinet.
Those blocking government headquarters are carrying national flags and banners of the nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party, following overnight clashes with the police.
Opposition leaders have addressed their supporters and reiterated their demands: resignation of both the government and the president and early presidential and parliamentary elections.
Kiev mayor, Aleksandr Popov, has called on the protesters occupying the city administration building to “let the employees work normally for the city, its citizens and guests,” Popov warned that blocking the administration’s work may result in “delays in payments for public sector workers, food shortages, water, power and heating shortages,” and may disrupt the work of hospitals, schools and kindergartens.
Former minister of the interior and currently one of the leaders of the opposition, Yury Lutsenko, called on the people to rally near the cabinet building and not to approach the presidential administration, which was fruitlessly sieged on Sunday.
The rally near the seat of government will continue until “an order to return to Maidan [Independence Square] comes,” Lutsenko stressed.
Protest leaders are stressing that the march is peaceful and are calling on their supporters to “remain calm.”