Editor’s Note: Odessa journalist Sergiy Dibrov witnessed the May 2 violence killed 46 people, most of whom died in a fire in the Trade Unions Building.
Before May 2
Kulikove Pole Square in the
center of Odessa used to be a prison cemetery before its transformation into a square
for demonstrations and parades. In Soviet times, a pompous building that stands
there served as headquarters for the Regional Committee of the Communist Party.
It has been reconstructed several times. Most recently, it serves as the headquarters
for the local Trade Unions Federation and rents out office space inside.
In late February, after former
President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted from Ukraine by the EuroMaidan
Revolution, Odessa opponents of European Union integration set up an anti-Maidan
camp in Kulikove Pole Square, next to the Trade Unions headquarters.
The camp was the center of
activity for supporters of Ukraine’s “federalization” – which many regard as the
Kremlin code word for the dismemberment of Ukraine — and Russian-backed
separatists. It was the location of regular rallies that gathered up to several
thousand participants.
Pro-Ukrainian citizens have
long demanded that authorities remove the camp.
May 2
On the night of May 2, the football
teams Chernomorets (Odessa) and Metallist (Kharkiv) played in Odessa. After the
EuroMaidan protests started in November, Ukrainian football fans started the
game-day tradition of peacefully marching in support of Ukraine’s unity as a
nation. A planned march took place in Odessa on May 2 at 3 p.m.
In the last five months, Odessa
has also seen opposing political rallies. One took place on May 1, when AntiMaidan
activists and left-wing parties took part in a peaceful march.
The next day, however, was
different. AntiMaidan pages on the Russian-controlled Vkontakte social network
shared calls to forcefully stop the pro-Ukrainian march and gather at
Oleksanrivkiy Avenue, near the planned march.
One of the pages called on
their supporters in Odessa to “take after Donetsk,” a reference to the bloody
attacks by Kremlin-backed, pro-Russian demonstrators on pro-Ukrainians on April
27.
Russian-backed attackers came armed, ready to attack
One hour before the march,
some 200 young men gathered in an agreed location.
They came ready to fight. They
had guns, bats, knives and wore helmets and bulletproof vests. They behaved aggressively
and began to dismantle the pavement to prepare rocks to throw at their
opponents.
At the same time, some 1,000 football
fans and supporters of Ukraine’s unity gathered at Sobornaya Square.
Only several dozen members of the
Maidan Self-Defense Units, a paramilitary patriotic organization formed during
EuroMaidan to support the revolution, were equipped to defend the crowd.
The atmosphere was positive in
the square. Fans of the two teams from Odessa and Kharkiv sang the Ukrainian
national anthem together, chanted patriotic slogans such as “Odessa, Kharkiv,
Ukraine” and sang songs against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
When the fans gathered in a
column and began marching to the stadium, the Self-Defense Unit members were informed
about several hundred aggressive AntiMaidan supporters coming to the square
from Hrecheska Street, to attack the column of peaceful demonstrators.
Police didn’t separate the two
rallies from each another.
The armed Self-Defense
fighters formed a chain and put up their shields at the crossing with Hrecheska
Street to protect the fans.
But the shields didn’t stop the
attackers.
They threw rocks and stun
grenades into the column. In response to the explosions, football fans and
Ukrainian patriots immediately responded and threw fireworks and smoke grenades
into the attackers.
The street filled with smoke
and the attackers retreated to Hrecheska Street.
By now, however, pro-Ukrainian
fans were injured with rocks, hit in the face and head.
While the pro-Ukrainian Self-Defense
members stood in a line in front of the pro-Ukrainian crowd, covering themselves
with shields, police officers formed a similar line next to the AntiMaidan
crowd. Even with the cordon, their Russian-backed opponents continued throwing rocks
and other objects.
The AntiMaidan crowd was
outnumbered and soon went on the defensive as angry football fans went on the
attack and pelted the aggressors with rocks and chased them from nearby side
streets.
Gunshots fired by pro-Russian aggressors; first person killed
That’s when the first gunshots
were fired.
One of the AntiMaidan supporters,
armed with Kalashnikov machine gun, opened fire in a lane leading to Odessa’s
main Derybasivskaya Street. A bullet hit a young football fan in the chest, killing
him. Several dozen others were taken away by ambulance, injured by rocks.
After the first blood spilled,
the violence escalated.
Young women and elderly people
from the pro-Ukrainian rally began dismantling the pavement and passing the
rocks to the frontline. Soon, other supporters brought gasoline and foam
plastic, and young women began mixing Molotov cocktails right on Derybasivskaya
Street.
A four-minute video shows the confrontation and fire outside the Odessa Trade Unions building on May 2.
Several
hours of street fighting leave four dead, more than 100 wounded
Police officers attempted to
protect the AntiMaidan fighters, but were thrown back by Molotov cocktails and rocks.
The pro-Ukrainian side began using firearms, too.
The street fighting went on
for several hours, initially claiming the lives of four men and injuring about
100 people. The deputy chief of Odessa police, Dmitriy Fuchedzhy, and the chief
editor of the popular local online newspaper Dumskaya.net, Oleh Konstantinov, were
among the injured.
Around 5 p.m., pro-Ukrainian activists captured a fire
truck and drove it into the crowd of AntiMaidan people, using its water cannon
to disperse the fighting crowd. The football fans chased the opponents, and
beat those who they caught, while pro-Ukrainian Self-Defense members tried to
restrain them from lynching their victims. By this time, 74 ambulances were at
the scene.
After the AntiMaidan
supporters were chased away, pro-Ukrainian activists headed to Kulikove Pole
Square to destroy the Russian-backed camp. Some 2,000 pro-Ukrainian activists
attacked the camp, where some 200 AntiMaidan supporters were present.
A video shows Odessa police defending the pro-Russian crowd while a man is seen using a machine gun behind their backs.
Pro-Russian crowd flees to Trade Unions building
When the activists set the tents
and stage on fire, Odessa Oblast council member Oleksiy Alba called on the
pro-Russians in the camp to flee to the nearby Trades Union building.
The pro-Ukrainians attacked
the building with rocks and Molotov cocktails, while the AntiMaidan supporters
threw Molotov cocktails from the rooftop.
Several bottles of petrol bombs, thrown by activists outside, broke into the front entrance and the
windows of the second and fourth floor, where the fire spread quickly.
The burning building trapped people
inside. Eight of them died after jumping from the upper floors as they tried to
escape from the fire. More than 20 people died of smoke inhalation alone.
At the same time,
pro-Ukrainian activists saved several dozen people from the rooms on the second
and third floor.
Firefighters slow to respond
Firefighters arrived an hour
after the fire began.
More than 100 people inside
the building fled to the roof to safety. Police officers, who arrived after the
fire was extinguished, took them outside and arrested them. Some football fans
attempted to attack them, but were once again restrained by the pro-Ukrainian Self-Defense
members.
Bloodiest day in Odessa since 1918
The May 2 events were the
bloodiest civil conflict in Odessa since the pre-Bolshevik revolutionary raids
on the city’s Jews and street fights in 1918.
The total death toll currently
stands at 46 victims. One of the dead is Odessa city council member Vyacheslav
Markin. Alba, who led people inside the Trade Unions building, survived.
