Andrew Wilson: Another ‘Black Thursday’ in Ukraine

 Ukraine’s ‘Euromaidan’ protests have now been going on for almost two months, since the original ‘Black Thursday' on 21st November, when the government decided to suspend negotiations with the EU. The authorities have now chosen another Thursday, 16th January, to try and bring them to an end, not (yet) with the physical force that has failed in the past, but with a new law banning more or less everything.

In farcical scenes in parliament, the bill was rammed through with ‘235’ votes in favour. Except there was no real voting. Normal voting procedures were disrupted; on several votes the tellers counted ‘235’ votes in a show of hands in just five seconds.

I will just list some of the things the government has banned. Basically, with no logic or attempt at credibility, they have attempted to criminalise everything the opposition has been doing in the last two months.