10 days that shocked the Maidan

On Sunday in Kyiv, the most massive protest was held since the 2004 Orange Revolution. About half a million people passed through the streets of the Ukrainian capital to demonstrate to President Viktor Yanukovych disagreement with his manner to rule the country.

In fact, as you know, Kyiv was in a fever for a week and a half-from November 21, when the government, led by Nikolai Azarov, announced the suspension of the European integration of Ukraine. Negotiations under the Association Agreement with the EU - the basic document in this area - have been successful since 2007. In addition to the use of various European standards of quality in various fields, the agreement also implies the emergence of a free trade zone with EU countries. It was planned that the agreement would be signed at the end of November at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius, but a few days before, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to postpone European integration. The argument of the government essentially boiled down to one thing: the free trade zone with the EU will seriously offend Russia, which will close access to its markets for Ukrainian manufacturers and thus bury the weighty part of the Ukrainian economy, and Europe is in no hurry to compensate for these expenses. However, this argument did not convince many.

Starting from November 21, when several hundred civil activists and journalists came to the main square of Ukraine - the Maidan of Nezalevo, the protest shares did not stop for a day. For many Kievites, a rally on the Maidan turns into a kind of voluntary labor service: every day after work, several thousand people gather here with slogans that Ukraine needs Europe, and Europe - Ukraine. Many of them remain on the Maidan to spend the night. People from the regions come to support the capital - mainly from the Western ones, but there are also guests from the south and east, traditionally supporting the native of Donbass, Viktor Yanukovych. All of them require him to sign an association agreement with the European Union.

On November 24, opposition politicians organize a mass rally, which reaches about one hundred thousand Ukrainians. Protests are held in almost all major cities of the country. However, the inconsistency and ill -conceived actions of politicians lead to the fact that all this huge human potential is wasted. Over the next days, the rally on the Maidan turns into a removal and cheerful, but almost unpromising student action. Young people exercise in wit in the preparation of posters, and there are fewer plans and more and more live music from the stage.

The revolutionary attitude in the Maidan acquires a distinctly languid character. Kievans exchange their impressions on Facebook : “This is the ozone zone filled with papers with paper roses in their hair, Kiev ladies and intellectuals of all stripes, employees of scientific institutions, archives and other military organizations are discussing their deeply local news. The percentage of art historians goes off scale per unit territory. ”

People go through a symbolic face control and, looking around with curiosity, fall into the column hall of the capital's city hall.

By the end of the week, when in Vilnius it became finally clear that Viktor Yanukovych was not going to sign anything with the European Union, many were completely waving to the Maidan with his hand: they say, it didn’t work, the children will get tired and divorce home. However, everything changes in ten minutes on the night of Friday to Saturday.

At 4:15 in the morning, about a thousand Berkut fighters begin to clean up Euromaidan. Several hundred young people who spent the night at the non -treatment monument surround and begin to beat. Journalists and surveillance cameras record that those who escaped from a cordon are catching up with the surrounding streets and continue to be beaten with batons and legs. About a hundred activists manage to break into a nearby Mikhailovsky Zlatoverchi Monastery, where they were barricaded in the best traditions of the Middle Ages. Meanwhile, on the Maidan of Nezalevniy, urban utilities quickly remove the consequences of defeat. As later explained in the press service of the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kyiv, Golden Eagle applied force precisely at their request: Euromaidan interfered with the installation on the main square of the country of the New Year tree. According to the ambulance service, 35 people were injured in a collision with the police, 7 of them were hospitalized. Another 35 people were detained.

The news of the acceleration of Euromaidan Kyiv is amazing. In the morning, the residents of the capital on their own initiative reached for Mikhailovskaya Square. Many of them carry products and warm things with them. By the middle of the day, whole mountains of bread and clothes grow in the monastery. Many surrounding cafes, most of which are considered elite, offer free tea, coffee and hot broth.

Meanwhile, after the Berkut attack on the Euromaidan, the Kyiv protest changes dramatically. No songs and dancing, no cultural bias - a few more quarters before Mikhailovskaya Square, tens of thousands of people are heard. And this roller is unkind. Every now and then on the square is chanted: "Zeka on the bunks!" (a hint of two criminal records of Viktor Yanukovych) and “gang gate!”.

Along the street of Mikhailovskaya, people with agitation of various sizes were lined up. A three -meter stretch “ V means“ pitchfork ”is distinguished. A girl of about seven holds a small sheet with the inscription “Care away with your Christmas tree”.

A dense stream of passing cars, often with flags of Ukraine and the European Union, are regulated by volunteers from among the protesters. The vast majority of drivers are non -stop in support. A lonely trumpeter once after time plays "Get up, the country is huge." Nearby is a woman with a poster of “Mother of Ukraine, join, these are our children!”.

Toward evening, an impromptu scene and sound equipment appear on the square. From the barely audible performances of opposition politicians and conversations of ordinary protesters, it is clear that most of those who went to the square no longer think about European aspirations. Now this is a war against one person - President Yanukovych. The crowd of thousands chants: "Hama on the Christmas tree!"

“I was there, on the Maidan, a couple of hours before overclocking,” a dense man of about 50 to a woman says with indignation. “There, the children were frozen, sang a hymn.” Why did you need to beat them? For what?

- They are already completely fucked up, they go against their people! - the interlocutor assents the man.

“Tomorrow you must definitely go to 12 Shevchenko Park,” the girl passing by campaigned by.

We are talking about the official protest - a nationwide evening organized by opposition politicians. The opposition leaders take turns urging citizens on Sunday to take the streets and achieve the resignation of the government, re -election to parliament and the change of president.

The call worked - the next day the city is seething. People flow in dense streams to the city center, to the Shevchenko Park appointed by the starting point. As a result, the opposition reports that more than 500 thousand citizens entered the streets of Kyiv. It is not possible to quickly check the official point of view - the sites of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are under the pressure of opposition hackers, as, indeed, the resources of the president, parliament and the cabinet. However, later the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that only 40 thousand people participated in the action.

Here it is necessary to explain that even 40 thousand people for Kyiv, and even more so half a million - this is a lot. Despite the fact that in Ukraine they actually love to protest and those who wish to let them choose a promotion for every taste, so many people have not been on the streets since the Orange Revolution, when mass protests forced the current president of Yanukovych, and then only a candidate for this post to go to the opposition. The explanation for this is simple - after the universal euphoria of 2004, disappointment from the subsequent failure of the victorious “orange” politicians was crushing. Many turned away from politics, and universal opinion can be formulated something like this: if then it didn’t work out, now what. The weather was an additional obstacle: the last days in Kyiv is a temperature near zero, which clearly does not contribute to street actions.

In the words “with our chieftain you do not have to bother”, many smile bitterly.

However, none of this prevented Ukrainians massively go out onto the streets. On Sunday afternoon, almost the entire city center was scored in crowds of people with the flags of Ukraine and the European Union. Many approached campaign creativity in an original way. So, in the crowd there are people with posters like “Jesus for the European Union”, as well as “they are oh ...” and the image of the spruce.

The column of protesters led by the leaders of the opposition parliamentary factions Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Vitaly Klitschko and Oleg Tyagnybook moves from Shevchenko Park to Khreshchatyk and further to the Maidan. Activists stretch a huge Ukrainian flag over the column. Police officers are trying not to catch the eye of the protesters.

At a certain moment, part of the column is separated and it is taken to beat the windows in the building of the city administration located on Khreshchatyk. The rally participants call them provocateurs and drive them away, however, literally half an hour later, the Kyiv City Council is still stormed by the Kyiv City Council, which is headed by people's deputies from the Nationalist Party “Freedom”. The police, seeing that people are serious, retreating itself. The building is declared a vacation spot for protesters who need to warm up or have a bite. Later, the house of trade unions, where the coordination headquarters is organized in Khreshchatyk, will also be captured and also.

Assault on the building of the presidential administration in Kyiv

Meanwhile, the head of the column reaches the Maidan of Nezalevniy. Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who were on duty in the square, hastily retreat. The protesters with rage are pounced on metal shields that grew up where there was a Euromaidan more recently. Several activists at once climb on the frame of the New Year tree installed here, which soon turns out to be all hung with flags and posters. The Christmas tree in general, it seems, causes special hatred in the protesters - the structural elements are broken and scattered along the Maidan. A group of protesters with a cry "Revolution!" He climbs on a car parked here and sings the anthem of Ukraine, which picks up the entire area. Sounds the Scandration of "Yanukovych on the Christmas tree!" And "Together and to the end!".

Representatives of the European Union were the first to make the promptly established scene: the head of the largest opposition party of Poland “Law and Justice” Yaroslav Kachinsky and vice president of the European Parliament Yatsek Protasevich.

- The EU doors remain open to Ukraine, despite the President of Yanukovych! - assures the latter.

“When I see this rally, I believe that you will be in Europe,” Mr. Kachins agrees with him. The crowd is buzzing approvingly.

After them, the opposition leaders receive the word.

- Now the strike begins here, which will block the entire government quarter! We demand the resignation of the criminal government, Zakharchenko (head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.- Ed. )-on trial! ”Calls Yuri Lutsenko, the ex-head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, after coming to the power of President Yanukovych, who was in prison and pardoned six months ago.

Other politicians offer the impeachment of the president and the holding of early parliamentary and presidential elections.

- In Ukraine, a revolution has begun! - summarizes the head of the nationalist "Freedom" Oleg Tyagnybk. On the Maidan begin to put up tents.

Meanwhile, two groups of people who are gathered to block the buildings of the government and the presidential administration that have been nearby are abandoning the bulk of the protesters. Young people were clearly preparing for this in advance: wooden bars were wrapped in their hands to protect against blows with batons, and in their hands many carry sticks. However, if the protesters only began to do anything around the Cabinet of Council of Cabinet, without trying to do anything, then a real street war broke out near the presidential administration.

On the Bankovaya Street, where the administration is located, a heavy car carpet with a bucket stops. He crushes the fence established there and forces the police to retreat. Attacks are preparing with might and main for a serious brawl: they break the fence into sticks, and cobblestones are removed from paving stones. However, many protesters who are trying to prevent bloodshed are not ready for a power confrontation. At some point, the presidential administration has a People’s Deputy and owner of Roshen confectionery Petro Poroshenko. Having climbed to the grader, he is trying to convince the audience to abandon the assault, warns that this is a provocation, but he is thrown with stones.

A few minutes later the assault begins. The cobblestones and fireplaces are used, the police respond with gas and light -school grenades, the whole street is covered with tear gas. Only law enforcement fighters remain on it and a small group of drivers that drove; They were equipped with gas masks. Later, many eyewitnesses noted the illogicality of what was happening: the attackers seemed only to simulate an attempt to storm, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not even try to detain the few attackers who watered them with a hail of stones. Later, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be announced: “About 300 radical members of the Brotherhood organization“ Brotherhood ”” were involved in offenses near the presidential administration. However, the leader of the Brotherhood Dmitry Korchinsky denies his involvement in the assault.

When the cloud of tear gas is scattered, several thousand protesters are returning to the presidential administration, which gives the special forces “Berkut” an occasion to go on the attack. Fighters drive the protesters with Bankova, mercilessly beating the fallen. A small group is hiding in the house of writers who are immediately at once, but the “golden eagle” bursts there, and beating defenseless people. It also goes to journalists from whom cameras are selected and defeated. According to the Department of Health of Kyiv, according to the results of clashes, the administration suffered 165 people, 109 of them were hospitalized. The Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that 50 fighters received various injuries. As a result, most of the protesters returns back to the Maidan, where the rally continues.

People do not diverge even late at night. Life boils at the City Council building. One of the windows of the first floor is knocked out, there is an announcement that doctors are needed, as well as hot food and warm things. A small line of those who wanted to help was lined up to the window.

There are hundreds of people inside. People go through a symbolic face control and, looking around with curiosity, fall into the column hall of the capital's city hall. A couple of hours ago, an unknown activist played here for those gathered in the piano. Now cookies are laid out on the tables, they offer to drink tea. Along the walls, protesters are located right on the floor. Most are too tired to speak. Entrance to the upper floors where officials are located are blocked by activists.

Meanwhile, nearby, on Bessarabskaya Square, about a hundred unknown in masks are trying to dump the monument to Lenin. The Berkut fighters come to protect the monument, a brawl is flared up. As a result, the monument can be protected. The Maidan immediately responds from the scene: “They just tried to dump the last monument to the Soviet idol on the Bessarabka. But we once again ask not to succumb to provocations and not to enter into conflicts with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Glory to the Ukrainian-Russian friendship! " In some places, they react to the last words with a whistle, but the vast majority of the public applauds. Most of the time on the stage is empty, only occasionally a presenter appears on it to recall that on the Maidan dry law and drunk, it is advisable to immediately get out of its limits.

The Maidan is strengthened and prepared for a long confrontation. Activists install heavy metal fences on the sides from the stage and a dozen tents. The song "Love, Brothers, Love sounds from the stage. In the words “with our chieftain you do not have to bother”, many grinned bitterly.