Opposition holds 'informational meeting' at Maidan Nezalezhnosti

Kyiv, September 17, 2002 — Approximately four to five thousand people gathered today at Maidan Nezalezhnosti for what could be the first of a series of so called "informational meetings" carried out by the UPRISE UKRAINE organizers Olexandr Moroz, Petro Symonenko, Yuliya Tymoshenko and Victor Yushchenko. Today's meeting was called in order to respond to the latest developments in the opposition movement and share information about the plans for the nearest future with the public. The informational meetings were deemed necessary given the highly biased informational coverage of yesterday's events by the major Ukrainian TV channels.

Of the four organizers of UPRISE UKRAINE, only Victor Yushchenko failed to show up even though it was expected that he would address the meeting.

The main issue raised by all of the speakers at the meeting was the response to last night's brutal liquidation of the tent camp that had been raised near the Presidential Administration building.

Olexandr Moroz of the Socialist Party reported that despite numerous promises made by police authorities not to use force unless provoked, the protesters, many of whom were the elderly, were beaten using rubber batons. Some 150 people were detained and about half of those were still missing.

© ArtUkraine.com 9/17/02

On condition of anonymity, one policemen revealed to protest organizers that the use of force was sanctioned personally by Victor Medvedchuk, head of the Presidential Administration, and that Medvedchuk had been instructed by President Kuchma to ensure removal of the camp by morning.

Hryhoriy Omelchenko, head of the Parliament's commission investigating the murder of Georgiy Gongadze, informed the group that one of the detainees has died. Meanwhile, official news reports contain information that it was a police officer who died of a heart attack in the hospital after the camp's liquidation.

Levko Lukianenko of the Republican Party 'Sobor' reported about the yesterday's events in Lviv. Close to 50 thousand people gathered there for the UPRISE UKRAINE rally. According to Lukianenko's information, the authorities confiscated drivers licenses from all local bus drivers in order to prevent them from transporting protesters to Kyiv.

Yulia Tymoshenko's speech was the emotional highlight of the meeting. She gave a very detailed account of the police beatings the night before, suggesting that only people "under medication" could be capable of beating up the elderly unarmed men and women. The primary goal of the opposition, as stated by Tymoshenko, must be to compel the authorities to release all the detainees.

According to Victor Yushchenko whose reaction to the police beatings was made available earlier in the day, it was a 'big disgrace' and the immediate release of all detainees would be his major condition before any talks regarding his entering the majority in Rada are held.

A letter to the international community that was approved at yesterday's rally was sent out to 50 world leaders and to around 150 foreign mass media.

The UPRISE UKRAINE organizers' plans for tomorrow include meeting with representatives of the diplomatic corps in Ukraine. They will also attempt to meet with President Kuchma and give him the resolution of the UPRISE UKRAINE rally demanding his resignation.

The next major opposition rally is expected to take place on Maidan in front of Verkhovna Rada next Tuesday, September 24. The goal of the rally would be to call on the deputies to initiate impeachment procedures against President Kuchma.

ArtUkraine Information Service (ARTUIS)
Washington, D.C. and Kyiv, Ukraine
ArtUkraine@starpower.net
www.ArtUkraine.com