Linas, a café serving Lebanese cuisine in central Kyiv, is open again after Ukrainian nationalists tried to have it closed.
Indeed the business, on Bessarabska Square at 5, Velyka Vesylkivska Street, seemed to be attracting more people than ever on May 23, as news circulated in the city about the attempt to close it down.
Some 50 people led by the head of the nationalistic non-government organization “National-Patriotic Movement of Ukraine” Mykhaylo Kovalchuk attempted to close Linas on May 21 because it “has none of the required documents for operations” and “is breaking Ukrainian law” because the staff can’t speak Ukrainian, according to Kovalchuk.
Kovalchuk said that he ordered a take-away coffee, which is cheaper than a coffee served at a table inside. However, he then opted to sit at a table inside the café. After the waiter asked him in Russian to pay the difference in price for the coffee, Kovalchuk said he “became angry” and demanded to be addressed in Ukrainian. He also asked to see the café’s complaints book.
According to Kovalchuk, he saw many negative reviews about the café in the book, and tried to take a photo of it, but the management prevented him from doing so.
Kovalchuk said that he had then left the café, but in the evening he had been attacked by a group of people, one of whom he claimed was the manager of the café.
The management of Linas denied the accusation. The café closed for some time after the incident on May 21.
Kovalchuk said that the “police promised to close down the café,” but the spokeswoman for Kyiv police, Oksana Blyshchyk, said that the police didn’t have the authority to do so.
According to the statute of the “National-Patriotic Movement of Ukraine,” the organizations aims to “protect the rights of Ukrainians” and “educate young people in the spirit of love for the homeland, its language and history, and foster in them pride in their country.”
Human rights activist Maria Tomak called the incident “a xenophobic incident involving threats” but said that the activists could also have business motives for wanting to close the café.
Kovalchuk denied this.
The management of Linas Café refused to comment the situation to the Kyiv Post.
As this story was published, Kyiv police had yet to report if either of the sides in the conflict had filed any official complaints.
