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| Europe |
| Ukrainians protest en masse in bid to oust Yanukovych |
| 2013-12-09 |
| [Pak Daily Times] Hundreds of thousands of pro-EU Ukrainians rallied in Kiev on Sunday for a new protest aimed at forcing President Viktor Yanukovych to resign after he sparked fury by rejecting an EU pact under Kremlin pressure. Waving EU and Ukrainians flags as well as the red-and-black banners of the wartime anti-communist Ukrainian Insurgent Army, around 200,000 demonstrators filled Kiev's iconic Independence Square to bursting point. Jailed Ukrainian ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko said the opposition was demanding the "immediate" resignation of Yanukovych, in a statement to the mass rally read by her daughter that was met by chants of "resign!" from the throng. "Yanukovych took a decision to join the club of dictators," Yevgenia Tymoshenko quoted her mother as saying in a message from detention. "We must peacefully and legally oust him from power." "He is no longer the president of our state, he is a tyrant who must answer for every drop of blood that has been shed," she added. Some of the protesters wore helmets in an apparent attempt to protect themselves in the event of possible festivities with riot police as a priest read a prayer from stage. Trademark nationalist chants reverberated through the overcrowded Kiev metro as more protesters sought to join the protest. "Glory to Ukraine!" they shouted. "Glory to heroes!" replied others. |
| Posted by:Fred |