Entrepreneurs, students, doctors and drivers were among the 2,000 people protesting outside the Kyiv City State Administration on March 26. They made quite a sight, along with 700 minivans of “marshrutka” route drivers, lined up on Khreshchatyk Street. Each had his or her own grievances, but most were seeking the resignation of Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky. The mayor’s policies, protesters said, have hurt their livelihoods through higher taxes and other regulations or, in the students’ cases, by seizing a dormitory and two academic buildings, to rent for commercial uses.
The Kyiv Post showed up and asked: 1) why did you come? 2) will the protests have an effect? and 3) how far will Ukrainians go to defend their interests?
Anastasiya Kravchenko
Student of Kyiv Academy of Municipal Management
1. We will be thrown on the street very soon. We are students and we need to study. We want to get our degree and the diploma of this university. I am from another city and it’s financially hard for me to study in Kyiv and they want to increase the university fees as well.
2. Today it was a peaceful protest. The mayor did not even show up and say a word to us. He turned the speakers on so he couldn’t hear the noise we are making here.
3. I can say one thing: Maidan of 2004 [Orange Revolution] was a mere joke. We are ready for more.
Oksana Herasymenko
Artist
1. I am here because I want to have a better life. I am tired that nobody cares, that nobody pays attention to any real problems in this country. The mayor sits silently in his building. The president doesn’t react either. My daughter comes and says that the mayor wants to seize her kindergarten. Is this normal?
2. Today’s action proved peaceful protests are senseless.
3. If local and central government make even small concessions, people will calm down very fast. Ukraine has just terrible labor unions to bring enough people to the protests. However, the possibility that Ukrainians will express discontent in a more aggressive manner exists.”
Mykhailo Sortynskiy
Entrepreneur
1. The mayor is creating comfortable conditions for himself and his staffers at the expense of small- and medium-sized businesses. We are against Kyiv Investment Agency, [a government entity which was given the authority over all “small architectural structures,” such as kiosks], which will monopolize our property. Then it will be sold and all Kyiv kiosks will become the property of a single person who will decide whether to leave us or rent our property out to somebody else.
2. Yes, they do have a result. At least, entrepreneurs gained the support of the State Committee for Regulatory Policies and Entrepreneurship and its head, Oleksandra Kuzhel.
3. Even during [ex-President Leonid] Kuchma’s time, protesters’ blood wasn’t shed. Now, violent protests are impossible and they will all be held in very peaceful civilized manner.”
Yuliya Biletska
Entrepreneur
1. I am an extremely calm person and would never go on protest. Imagine what I am driven to, if I am here. Profits dropped by 60 percent and the mayor wants to take away my kiosks. Soon there won’t be enough to buy food.
2. It’s not the first time I am attending a peaceful protest [here]. Nobody reacts and I am tired of this. Some of my fellow entrepreneurs said “call us when you are ready [to take more aggressive steps] and we’ll join.”
3. I am afraid it will happen very soon. The ridiculous attitude of our leaders prompts people to take very aggressive steps.
Denys Bekreshov
Entrepreneur
1. We are here to fight those decisions taken by the Kyiv city administration that will kill small- and medium-sized businesses. However, today, everybody from doctors to students attended the protest. Chernovetsky has hurt the interests of too many people and he should resign.
2. If we consider peaceful protests to be senseless, we wouldn’t be here.
3. People are on edge and ready for everything, even for the worst-case scenario.
