Kyivans turned out by the hundreds early on Aug. 19 near Kyiv city hall to demand that the expired council step down and elections for a new one be held in Kyiv immediately. Meanwhile city council members assembled inside for a session.
The current city council’s term expired on June 2, however, the Constitutional Court ruled on May 30 that Kyiv will remain without an elected city mayor and city council until October 2015.
The decision was immediately met with criticism from experts, the opposition and many Kyivans.
“Elections! Elections!” the crowd chanted as city council members tried to make their way inside the city hall building.
Not all protesters came out against the session. Dozens of people who said they were teachers and doctors assembled in support of it. Their group appeared well organized, holding pro-session banners in favor of the session taking place while a woman went around checking attendance.
“We are here because today the city council has to pass an important decision on a 20 percent social raise of our salaries,” said Olha Myshkovets, a teacher.
The city council typically makes annual amendments to the city budget, passing the so-called 20 percent social addition to the salaries of public sector employees.
As the session begun, several opposition members of parliament tried to get inside the building, but were blocked by special police units who closed the entrance. As someone in the crowd smashed the window, several members of the parliament, including Arseniy Yatseniuk, Andriy Illyenko, Yuriy Syrotiuk and Vitaly Yarema, were able to climb inside.
However, they appeared at the window moments later saying that they had been blocked from the session hall by police.
As city council members began the session inside behind closed doors, outside the tensions escalated.
A fight erupted between Svoboda members and unknown men, which one police officer tried to break up, using tear gas. Journalists who witnessed the scene surrounded the officer and tried to get him to comment on why he chose to use the tear gas. As the officer started to give comments, he was grabbed by his fellow officers and taken to the police bus, stumbling upon falling cameras, microphones and clashing with journalists on the way.
The city council’s session did not last long, as acting city Mayor Galyna Hereha closed it just 12 minutes after it had begun. During this short time the council managed to pass several decisions, all administrative, including the 20 percent social raise for teachers and doctors.
She later told journalists that she merely did her job by calling in the session, since the “city council received thousands of requests from unions to hold the session” for passing administrative decisions.
“The Kyiv city council is not responsible for setting the date for elections. The city council is responsible for managing the city,” Herega said.
Protesters promised that they would appear outside parliament – the government body responsible for setting the date for Kyiv elections –which will assemble on Sept. 3 after the summer recess.
Kyiv has been without an elected mayor since June 2012 when Leonid Chernovetsky resigned from the post just days before his legal term expired.
Currently Galyna Hereha, head of the Kyiv city council, is acting city mayor.
She is a lot less visible than the city manager Oleksandr Popov,who heads the executive branch of the city.
Popov is a member of the ruling Party of Regions and was appointed by President Viktor Yanukovych in summer 2010 as Chernovetsky’s deputy.
Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at [email protected].
