Baptism of fire

Kyiv, Maidan: night from January 19 to 20. Reporting The New Times

The opposition disappointed with the unwillingness of the opposition to truly fight the authorities, the people on the streets in Kyiv decided to lead the protest on their own. The radicals took up stones and smoke bombs, the police - for light -school grenades, tear gas and batons. In a couple of hours, what was happening began to resemble Tahrir Square in a revolutionary Cairo

Supporters of European integration during a collision with the police January 19, 2014

All night in the center of Kyiv on Grushevsky Street, buses of Berkutovites were burning, light -school grenades and smoke bombs exploded, and the forces of law and order sprayed tear gas. Here, a real street war continued for several hours: the protesters threw the police with stones, sticks and a paving stones dismantled right on the go. The police responded with gas, water bodies, rubber bullets. The batons were used on both sides.

Kyiv Sich

“I am no longer scared. It was scary when initially it seemed that the provocateurs arranged it all again. But I was there. This is not a provocation. This is the war of the people against the authorities. People have nothing to lose, ”the 32 -year -old Kiev HR Oleg shared his impressions with The New Times correspondent.

“War, everything is real. The police are not a fig with the people, and the people will not be able to calmly go home, because every protester knows: they will go home, having achieved anything, he will go to jail, ”adds 48 -year -old Taras. In his native Lviv, he is engaged in the manufacture of souvenirs for tourists, and he came to the Maidan to "protect people from arbitrariness."

It was scary to be in the center of Kyiv that night. And not only in the center. Local skirmishes between opponents of the regime and security forces were even in sleeping areas: there, activists blocked dozens of buses with special forces approaching the Center with their cars. Law enforcement officers did not stand on ceremony: they immediately broke the activists, their drivers were shot with rubber bullets and detained. Those in response threw firecrackers.

Those who were in the center failed to close the eye at night. Two guys from the roof of one of the buildings on Grushevsky threw Molotov cocktails into the crowd of police officers. When the special forces reached them, the guys were divided naked, doused with cold water, shot at point blank with rubber bullets, and then the naked were released to run along the street. The guys from Kirovograd were injured. They were heated and dressed already on the Maidan of Nebulia.

By Monday Monday, the police delayed a couple of dozen protesters. The demonstrators, in response, began to capture the Berkut fighters and keep them at home. At least two "detainees" were reported. The police calculated that during the active phase of the unrest, the demonstrators burned six of their cars at once. About 40 police officers were injured. Almost all of them were hospitalized.

It is almost impossible to calculate people who suffered from among the demonstrators: activists in every possible way avoid hospitalization, fearing repression. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine has already stated that active participants in the riots on Grushevsky faces up to 15 years in prison.

Who is to blame

Yesterday, already the eighth "People’s Veche", to which the opposition convened people, from the very beginning was not the same as all the previous Sunday meetings of the demonstrators. Firstly, there were unexpectedly few people at the rally: back on Saturday in Kyiv, it seemed that at least a million citizens and guests of the capital would be protesting, but in fact it turned out that no more than 50 thousand people actively wanted to defend their rights. This is even less than it was a week ago. But this time the official opposition collected people to protest against several bills at once, radically limiting the civil freedoms of Ukrainians. So, recently, I have recently adopted violations of all procedural norms forbidding Ukrainians to go to rallies, buy SIM cards without passports, write unpleasant things on Facebook, wear masks at rallies, move in tutorials, etc. The opposition hoped that this time a record number of people would come to the streets, and the authorities somehow had to reckon with this.

But the street decided differently. Those 50 thousand people who, nevertheless, despite the 8-degree frost, went out into the street, had demands not only to the authorities, but also for the opposition. Protesters demanded the appearance of one person among the leaders of the parliamentary opposition - it doesn’t matter who - who would take responsibility for the protesters and the right to talk with President Yanukovych on their behalf. Oppositionists hesitated: the head of the Fatherland party, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, said that the leader of the Maidan is the “Ukrainian people”, and Vitaly Klitschko again unconvincingly spoke about the need for early elections. When he stated on the stage of Euromaidan that his party was going to hold a meeting on Monday, the situation got out of control. The crowd boiled a politician. Street commanders decided to “score” on the wishes of opposition leaders and rushed to picket the Verkhovna Rada. Klitschko and other opposition leaders began to convince people not to do this.

Activists did not obey. “Please take someone responsibility. We need a protest leader, not a candidate for the elections in 2015, ”said one of the 40 -year -olds, in appearance, activists Vitaly Klitschko in the crowd. “What should we do, tell me! Endlessly come and listen to your speeches? For what? We need actions, ”another demonstrator demanded. “Nobody will touch you, and we are burst into prisons. We have no way back, ”the third explained.

Klitschko and other politicians stubbornly refused to take responsibility. Later, rumors began to fly to the Maidan that Arseniy Yatsenyuk and the leader of Freedom Oleg Tyagnibok were not going to fight the “truly” regime, since their business is closely connected with the Party of Regions. Petro Poroshenko - another potential authority for demonstrators - simply did not come to the opposition on Sunday.

Something that everyone was expected happened, but what they were afraid to talk about openly: the street “spoke”, the protest was radicalized. Those with whom The New Times managed to talk in the square confidently stated that they would not go home even if President Yanukovych guarantees them the lack of repression. “What can you negotiate with this authority? Yanukovych always promised us one thing, but another happened. We have no way back, ”said The New Times, 26 -year -old Bogdan from Ternopol, who took part in night clashes.

You can not fight

All detained activists of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are going to judge by accusations of organizing riots. The detainees face up to 15 years in prison. The investigation against a dozen activists has already begun.

However, civil activists last night forced Vitaly Klitschko to act on their behalf as a negotiator with the opposition. President Yanukovych called Arseniy Yatsenyuk, announcing his readiness to sit down at the negotiating table and sending a special car for Klitschko. The party leader of the blow went to the residence of the president in Mezhigorye and said that he was “concerned” and was actively monitoring the situation. The parties agreed to discuss the issues of a truce on Monday. The responsibility for what was happening on Grushevsky Street was assumed by the radical fan group “Right Sector”, which took part in the assault on the Presidential Administration on Bankova Street on December 1 last year.

Meanwhile, the United States and the EU requires both the authorities and from the demonstrators to immediately stop violence. “The government weakened the foundations of Ukrainian democracy, introducing criminal liability for peaceful protests and depriving civil society and political defense opponents,” the US National Security Council Kaitlin Hayden, the government of the US Presidential Administration, called on the government to compromise.

But it is unlikely that the street is now ready to compromise. One of the leaders of the opposition “Separate Plan”, the former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and political prisoners, Yuri Lutsenko, says that now on the streets it is decided whether “Whether we will have free Ukraine”. “Yanukovych understands only the language of power. The opposition leaders will be able to achieve the requirements of the Maidan only if on Monday, on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of people will be in the center of the Ukrainian capital. Then politicians will only be the performers of your will regarding the reboot of the authorities, ”Lutsenko is convinced. The ex-minister called on everyone to go to the Maidan.

In the future of negotiations of power and opposition, political scientist Yuri Romanenko does not believe. “So far, everything looks like the authorities concentrate forces to create the necessary advantage. Therefore, I went to negotiations so quickly. She needs a day to concentrate all the combat -ready forces of riot police around Kyiv. Plus, the assault in the morning is guaranteed to get into the prime time in the West, like December 11, ”the expert of The New Times explained. According to him, the new active phase of the confrontation can begin on Monday evening.

“Contrary to the desire of the opposition and, possibly, many moderate activists, our protest now has a battle wing. This is a given. Now you have to work with this wing. If the protest is no longer peaceful, then let it be at least controlled. The opposition lags behind the area of ​​two tacts. I hope this night will clean her brains. I do not know in plus today's events or minus will play, but certainly will spur the situation. It may turn out that the language of power and aggression is the only understandable to members of the authorities. And the West is likely to be fucked. The night was epic, ”summarizes in an interview with The New Times the political observer LIGA.NET Sergey Vysotsky.

Photo: Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko