First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Iryna Gerashchenko, is preparing a request to the National Police regarding the conduct by unidentified people in balaclavas of compulsory inspection of citizens’ personal things near the parliament building in the center of Kyiv.
“Several representatives of non-governmental organizations and ordinary citizens, who came to meet with me to the Verkhovna Rada building, complained that their personal belongings and handbags were forcibly inspected by unknown people in the balaclavas in a self-constructed enclosure arranged near the Rada. This is unacceptable. And this is a serious violation of the law on which the National Police should respond,” Gerashchenko wrote on her Facebook page on Saturday.
“In fact, illegal units are inspecting personal belongings of citizens in the center of the Ukrainian capital. I am preparing an official request to the National Police,” she said.
The first deputy speaker also appealed to the political leaders who initiated the rally near the parliament on October 17, “to make efforts to adequately solve the situation, publicly urge to stop this disorder and mockery over the Mariyinsky Park.”
As reported, a rally with the participation of representatives of various political forces and non-governmental organizations, such as the Movement of New Forces, Batkivschyna (Fatherland), Samopomich, Anatoliy Hrytsenko’s Civil Position, the Democratic Alliance, Svoboda, and the National Corps, began in front of the Verkhovna Rada’s building on October 17. Participants in the rally demanded the abolition of parliamentary immunity, the establishment of an anti-corruption court, and the introduction of a proportional electoral system, among other things.
As reported, about 4,000 people gathered outside the building of the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv on October 17. The rally was attended by representatives of various political forces and public organizations, in particular, Mikheil Saakashvili’s Movement of New Forces, Batkivschyna, Samopomich, Anatoliy Hrytsenko’s Civil Position, Democratic Alliance, Svoboda and the National Corps. The demands of the protesters include the cancellation of parliamentary immunity, the creation of an anti-corruption court and the introduction of a proportional electoral system on open lists.
On November 19, the Reanimation Reform Package organization, the Anti-Corruption Action Center, Civil Platform, Democratic Alliance, Samopomich and others announced their intention to continue the protest “by other methods” and left the tent camp near the parliament. At the same time, Saakashvili’s Movement of New Forces decided to continue the protest near the Verkhovna Rada. Supporters of Samopomich deputies Yehor Sobolev and Semen Semenchenko decided to remain in the tests. The total number of protesters fell to 150 people. Their tents are located in the Mariyinsky Park near the parliament building.
Saakashvili scheduled a new rally for November 7, when the Verkhovna Rada meets in plenary mode, in order to remind MPs of the demands of protesters to pass a new law on elections of people’s deputies, create an anti-corruption court and abolish parliamentary immunity.
