China Daily

Kiev protesters conclude occupation of City Hall

Government allows demonstrat­ors to walk free under amnesty deal

- By AGENCIES in Kiev, Ukraine

Scores of Ukrainian antigovern­ment protesters ended a 2-month-old occupation of City Hall in the capital, Kiev, on Sunday to meet a government amnesty offer.

Demonstrat­ors had swept into the main municipal building in early December to protest Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to abandon a trade pact with the European Union.

Under an amnesty arrangemen­t aimed at defusing the crisis, Ukrainian authoritie­s have offered to drop all criminal charges against activists who have been provisiona­lly freed as long as municipal buildings are cleared of protesters and some main roads are unblocked by Monday.

Masked men in military fatigues and the demonstrat­ors they had protected against riot police since mid-December filed out of Kiev’s City Hall on Sunday, but they threatened to return if authoritie­s did not carry out the amnesty promise.

Opposition deputies said protesters had similarly pulled out of municipal buildings in several areas of western Ukraine, a hotbed of opposition to Yanukovych, and in one part of the southeast where the president has retained more support.

“We are doing all we can so that the amnesty law will be able to enter into force. There was a decision made to free the building of the Kiev Council (City Hall), and we are doing that. There will not be a single protester left there,” said Oleh Helevey, a deputy for the farright nationalis­t party Svoboda.

“But if the prosecutor’s office does not declare that the law has come into force, we reserve for ourselves the right to occupy administra­tive buildings again,” he said.

Opposition sources said protesters had also agreed to ease blockage of traffic on a through road leading to government headquarte­rs and parliament that was the flashpoint in January of violent clashes between riot police and radical activists.

But they said barricades will largely remain in place.

The opposition has neverthele­ss warned that nothing short of Yanukovych’s resignatio­n will ultimately satisfy protesters.

Meanwhile, another largescale opposition rally was scheduled on Sunday in Kiev’s Independen­ce Square, focal point of the rebellion against Yanukovych’s leadership.

The unrest was sparked last November by Yanukovych when he spurned a free trade agreement long in the making with the European Union and opted for a $15 billion package of Russian credits and cheaper gas to help Ukraine’s ailing economy. At least six people have been killed in the unrest.

 ?? EFREM LUKATSKY / ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? A protester in a balaclava and a flak jacket plays the piano on Friday in Kiev’s Independen­ce Square, the epicenter of Ukraine’s current unrest. All the protesters detained during demonstrat­ions have been released under an amnesty law.
EFREM LUKATSKY / ASSOCIATED PRESS A protester in a balaclava and a flak jacket plays the piano on Friday in Kiev’s Independen­ce Square, the epicenter of Ukraine’s current unrest. All the protesters detained during demonstrat­ions have been released under an amnesty law.

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