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Ukraine teeters on 'brink of civil conflict'
| It looks like the Ukes are trying to do the Rose Revolution thing, alà Georgia. I don't see it happening yet, though I hope I'm wrong. |
Ukraine has plunged deeper into turmoil with the losing candidate in the presidential election reading the oath of office in parliament while some 200,000 supporters outside demanded the government admit it had cheated. Opposition and West-leaning candidate Viktor Yushchenko, who called hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets, told parliament on Tuesday that Ukraine "is on the brink of civil conflict".  He accused the outgoing president and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich of responsibility for electoral fraud which produced the results that have Yanukovich poised to be named president. Supporters prompted Yushchenko to read the oath of office after the conclusion of a tumultuous session of parliament that was boycotted by Yanukovich allies. He read the oath with his hand on a Bible, opened a window in the parliament building and addressed a sea of supporters outside who have turned out for a second day of raucous protest, which has the centre of the capital seething with anger. Speaker after speaker stepped up to the microphone in Kiev's Independence Square to defiantly pledge loyalty to Yushchenko. "We are fighting for democracy and we will win," declared Ihor Ostash, an opposition parliamentary deputy, draped like others in the orange campaign colours of Yushchenko's camp. The parliamentary session ended without taking any decision on the aftermath of the poll. "We are sliding towards the abyss. It is amoral and criminal to pretend nothing is happening in the country," parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn told deputies at the debate's start. | How do you say MoveOn in Russian? |
Posted by: Fred 2004-11-24 |
