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Several people have died as anti-government protests in the
Ukrainian capital go in to a fourth consecutive day, with a whole new level of
violence. Police have torn down barricades blocking central Kiev and chased
down rioters.
Cinco mortos no dia mais violento dos protestos de
Kiev
JOÃO RUELA RIBEIRO 22/01/2014 – in Público
As primeiras mortes nos confrontos na Ucrânia levaram as
manifestações populares para um patamar alarmante. Reunião entre Ianukovitch e
oposição nada resolveu.
A violência nas ruas de Kiev atingiu na quarta-feira um
nível altamente preocupante. Pelo menos cinco pessoas morreram e 300 ficaram
feridas nos confrontos com a polícia, de acordo com o balanço feito pelo
coordenador médico dos manifestantes, Oleg Musiy. O Presidente, Viktor
Ianukovitch, reuniu com os líderes da oposição, na tentativa de acalmar a
violência, mas qualquer acordo ainda parece estar longe.
O dia que comemorava a unificação da Ucrânia não podia ficar
pior marcado. As primeiras mortes nos protestos contra o Governo surgiram dias
depois da aprovação da lei que restringe as manifestações e amplia os poderes
da polícia.
Logo pela manhã a notícia de que duas pessoas teriam morrido
na sequência de disparos da polícia incendiou os ânimos das ruas de Kiev. Em
poucas horas a capital ucraniana ficou transformada num campo de batalha. De um
lado, os manifestantes queimavam pneus e lançavam cocktails Molotov; do outro,
a polícia ripostava com gás lacrimogénio, balas de borracha e bastonadas
indiscriminadas. As imagens televisivas mostravam uma cidade encoberta pelo
fumo de várias fogueiras. A certa altura, até um carro blindado trilhou as ruas
do centro.
Reagindo à notícia das mortes nos protestos, Ianukovitch
repudiou a acção de “radicais políticos”. “Sou contra os banhos de sangue,
contra o uso da força, contra a incitação da inimizada e da violência”, afirmou
o Presidente, apelando ao diálogo. O primeiro-ministro, Mikola Azarov, foi mais
longe e criticou os “terroristas da Maidan [Praça da Independência]”, que
acusou de promoverem a violência.
Azarov autorizou a utilização de canhões de água, numa
altura em que as temperaturas em Kiev atingem os 10 graus negativos. O
Ministério do Interior negou que as forças de segurança tenham utilizado armas
de fogo, contrariando a versão dos manifestantes.
Ultimato a Ianukovitch
Enquanto a violência tomava conta de Kiev, Ianukovitch
recebeu os líderes dos três partidos da oposição – o Udar, o Svoboda e o
Batkivshchyna –, alimentando esperanças de que um acordo poderia ser alcançado.
No entanto, a reunião de três horas revelou-se infrutífera.
Em plena Praça da Independência, o líder do Udar, o
ex-pugilista Vitali Klitschko, lançou um ultimato a Ianukovitch, com a garantia
de que, caso o Presidente não faça concessões, os manifestantes vão
"passar à ofensiva", sem precisar ao que se referia. Qualquer cenário
de compromisso com Ianukovitch deverá passar pela marcação de eleições
antecipadas.
Oleg Tyahnybok, líder do Svoboda, classificou o encontro com
Ianukovitch de “absolutamente inútil” e avisou os manifestantes de que a
polícia ia tentar remover quem se encontrasse na praça durante a noite. O líder
do Batkivshchyna, Arseniy Yatseniuk, apelou, por seu turno, ao fim da
violência.
A comunidade internacional condenou a subida de tom dos
protestos e a repressão da polícia ucraniana. A União Europeia mostrou-se
“chocada” com a violência em Kiev. O presidente da Comissão Europeia, Durão
Barroso garantiu que a UE está “pronta a pensar em sanções e consequências que
terão de existir para as relações com a Ucrânia” caso haja “violação
sistemática dos direitos humanos através de ataques às liberdades
fundamentais.”
Mal foi conhecida a notícia sobre as primeiras vítimas
mortais nos confrontos, os EUA anunciaram, através da embaixada norte-americana
em Kiev, que os vistos de “vários ucranianos responsáveis pela violência” foram
revogados. A Rússia criticou a “ingerência estrangeira” nos assuntos internos
da Ucrânia, condenando o comportamento de uma oposição “extremista”.
Kiev becomes a battle zone as Ukraine protests turn
fatal
Deaths of at least three
demonstrators come as businesses near protest hub reportedly ordered to close
Oksana Grytsenko in Kiev and Shaun Walker
theguardian.com, Wednesday 22 January 2014 / http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/22/ukraine-opposition-leaders-meet-president-protests-fatal
Wednesday is Ukraine's Day of National Unity, but the
country has never felt so divided.
At least three people have died in Kiev, the first
casualties of a protest movement that has rumbled on for two months before
bursting dramatically into violence over the weekend.
Two protesters were shot dead during clashes with police,
who attempted to take back control of the city centre. Prosecutors confirmed
earlier claims by the protest leaders that the pair had been shot with live
ammunition. A third protester died after falling from a high column at Dynamo
Kiev's football stadium while fighting with police, Reuters reported.
Oleg Musiy, the coordinator of the medical service at
Independence Square, told a pro-opposition radio station that another two
people had been killed, though this could not be confirmed.
As President Viktor Yanukovych held long talks with the trio
of opposition leaders who have led the protests for the past two months, the
deaths seemed likely to further inflame the tense situation in the country.
Parts of central Kiev resembled a battle zone as thick
clouds of smoke filled the air and the sound of stun grenades rang out. Police
shot at demonstrators with rubber bullets, and rumours swirled that a storm of
the main protest encampment, the heavily barricaded Independence Square, could
begin at any time. At one point, police deployed an armoured personnel carrier
to back up their movements.
Martial law was effectively declared at 4pm local time, as
shops, hotels and other businesses in the area surrounding the hub of the
protests were reportedly ordered to close their doors for the day. A full-on
storm was not immediately forthcoming, however.
Riot police pulled back from further clashes but were
involved in a protracted standoff with protesters near the Dynamo Kiev football
stadium overnight. People brought thousands of tyres to create a blazing wall
in between the police lines and the protest barricades. At midnight, a
full-scale firework display was launched, with the rockets aimed horizontally
at police. On Independence Square, the already formidable barricades were
augmented with more sacks of snow, metal railings and tyres.
The first attempts to push back protesters came as dawn
broke, amid a swirling blizzard. Police began their assault on the impromptu
barricades on Hrushevskogo Street, where clashes have been ongoing since Sunday
evening. Videos circulated of the police beating and kicking protesters, many
of whom were hurling rocks and molotov cocktails at officers in scenes that
shocked residents of Kiev. Political protest has been a way of life here since
the 2004 Orange Revolution, but before this week, rallies have never descended
into violence.
Police launched another attack on protesters shortly after
midday Kiev time (10am GMT), dispersing a crowd of thousands of people, moving
them hundreds of metres back. They used teargas and rubber bullets and beat
fleeing protesters with sticks. Some people were arrested. Then thousands of
policemen regrouped into new lines to take shelter from stones being hurled at
them.
Even as his riot police were on the attack, Yanukovych
released a statement urging them to "regulate the conflict in a peaceful
way" and saying he was against "bloodshed and forceful methods".
He asked the opposition to hold talks and demanded that people "not heed
the calls of political radicals".
Vitali Klitschko, the opposition leader and former
heavyweight boxer, called on Yanukovych to announce snap elections as a way to
resolve an ongoing political crisis.
"I know that this very second he [the president] is
watching this live broadcast. You, the president, you know that snap elections
will change the situation without blood, and we'll do everything to achieve
this," Klitschko told the crowd in Independence Square on Wednesday
evening. He added that talks with Yanukovych that started on Wednesday would
have to continue on Thursday, otherwise "we will go on the attack".
Yanukovych on Wednesday met the three main opposition
leaders – Klitschko, nationalist Oleh Tyahnybok, and Arseniy Yatsenyuk, of
jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko's party – for three hours.
The prime minister, Mykola Azarov, struck a defiant note,
blaming the victims for their own deaths and saying that the government had
"no other option" but to use force against protesters.
"The participants of these disturbances cannot be
called peaceful. These are criminals, who are disturbing order. I want to
officially state that the victims are the responsibility of the
troublemakers."
Azarov said terrorists were threatening the lives of
ordinary citizens in Kiev, and that the "criminal" actions of
protesters would be punished and suggested further force was possible. He was
due to appear at the World Economic Forum in Davos later on Wednesday, but his
invitation was reportedly withdrawn.
Earlier the protesters reconstructed their barricades as
thousands came to support them.
In a letter read out by her daughter Eugenia in Independence
Square, Yulia Tymoshenko called on the protesters to continue their struggle.
"The blood of these heroes of Ukraine lies on the hands of Yanukovych,"
the letter said. "If we, Ukrainians, forgive him this, then we will
deserve everything he will do to us later."
Vasyl, 76,
a pensioner from the central Cherkasy region, said:
"They [the authorities] provoked this. We are unarmed but nevertheless they
are afraid of us." His friend Pavlo, 60, wearing stripes in the colours of
Ukrainian and EU flags, said he came to support the protesters and was ready to
throw stones at police.
"The blood is the fault of the convict [Yanukovych] and
his party. We want these occupiers to leave Ukraine."
An exhausted Orthodox priest with a huge cross around his
neck trudged between the lines, trying unsuccessful to bring calm. "I'm
here to placate the violence. My congregation is here," he said.
Yuriy Lutsenko, a Ukrainian former interior affairs
minister, called on riot police to stop fighting against the protesters.
"Soldiers, if you stand here we will become Russia and you will have to go
and fight in Chechnya," he said through a loudspeaker, addressing lines of
police from a minivan in the middle of the crowd. "This is not your war.
This is a war of the Ukrainian people against the mafia."
The protests began when Yanukovych turned his back on a
planned association agreement with the European Union, citing financial pressure
and the need for closer ties with Russia. They have since grown into a more
general protest against Yanukovych's government, and have also attracted a
noisy minority who hold radical far-right views.
Condemnation of the violence came in a torrent from across
Europe. Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister, described the situation as
extremely serious. The EU's response remains to be seen, he said, but "it
won't be business as usual". José Manuel Barroso, president of the
European commission, said he was shocked at the deaths. He added: "I would
like to explicitly underline the fundamental responsibility of the Ukrainian
authorities to now take action to de-escalate this crisis and, in particular,
the need for them to engage in a genuine dialogue with the opposition and with
civil society on the ways to overcome this deep crisis."
The United States revoked visas to several Ukrainian
officials on Wednesday over the violence in November and December of last year.
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