Despite clear video and eyewitness evidence of excessive use of force by the police in breaking up a peaceful pro-European demonstration on Nov. 30, Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko told American and European ambassadors to Ukraine that the police were provoked by protesters.
Zakharchenko also showed them video footage
filmed by the law enforcers, according to his ministry’s statement.
“Police understand well that citizens
have a right to peacefully express their opinions and gather for
peaceful meetings. Police do not fight with the population which is
standing for its rights without breaking the law,” Zakharchenko told
the ambassadors during the meeting, to which he was accompanied by Foreign Minister Leonid
Kozhara. The meeting was requested by the ambassadors.
Police forcefully dispersed a peaceful
demonstration in the early hours of Nov. 30. At least 35 people were admitted to emergency rooms in the morning with injuries, and
dozens were arrested and released later.
The ambassadors did not seem
convinced that the police action was justified. In his own statement, European Union Ambassador Jan Tombinski said
there was “excessive use of force against peaceful demonstrators
who were making use of their right to peaceful assembly.”
The ambassadors said that they “made a call for an open, impartial
and in-depth investigation to clearly establish the facts and
determine responsibilities.” Zakharchenko promised that such an
investigation will be conducted.
“On the eve of the demonstration
scheduled to take place on Sunday 30 at 12:00, we called on the
Ministry of the Interior to make all efforts to avoid escalations,
refrain from excessive use of force and to effectively protect
the security and the freedom of peaceful assembly of all citizens,”
the ambassadors said.
Kozhara asked the
ambassadors to urge Ukrainian opposition politicians “to not
instigate the citizens of Ukraine to illegal actions during mass
demonstrations,” according to the Interior Ministry’s account of the meeting.
Just hours after the meeting of
diplomats and ministers, Ukrainska Pravda website released a leaked
document allegedly created by an information coordination center run
by one of the groups of influence within the government, which lists talking points about the use of force by police on Maidan
Nezalezhnosti.
The talking points suggest that the
theme of provocations, which allegedly provoked the brutal police response,
should be a central theme, followed by a promise of a full
investigation. They also suggest that opposition should be blamed for
failing to prevent the violence and betraying EuroMaidan protesters.
They also suggest that presidential chief of staff Serhiy Lyovochkin should be named as the one who gave an order to the
municipal authorities to start mounting the Christmas tree. A request
by the municipal authorities to clear the area for a Christmas tree was cited in the
morning by the police as the original reason that triggered police
action.
Lyovochkin reportedly resigned in the
morning, but has refrained from comment throughout the day.
Kyiv Post deputy chief editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reached at [email protected]
