|
 Clutching pictures of Tetyana Chornovil's badly bruised face,
hundreds marched on the Interior Ministry in the capital, Kiev.
The attack on the 34-year-old restored passion to protests which
have been losing steam more than a month after the government
spurned a pact on closer ties with the European Union, turning
instead to former Soviet master Moscow.
Pro-EU demonstrators have been occupying central Kiev but their
numbers have been falling since Russia offered Ukraine a $15 billion
bailout this month.
Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko had already become a target of
opposition anger following a violent crackdown on protesters by
police late last month that helped swell the demonstrations.
The attack on Chornovil, shortly after midnight on Wednesday, came
hours after she posted pictures online of what she said was
Zakharchenko's home, part of a campaign to expose the opulence of
the political elite under President Viktor Yanukovich.
"Our police no longer protect their people, but fight them instead,
hurt and oppress them," said protester Valentina Gorilova, a
47-year-old housewife.
Some protesters, their hands chained, kneeled before a row of police
in mock supplication.
With Ukraine winding down for the Orthodox Christian holiday season,
the opposition movement has shown signs of waning. A hard core of
hundreds continue to camp out around braziers on Kiev's Independence
Square, swelled by weekly mass rallies of around 100,000 or more.
BILLIONS IN RUSSIAN AID
Chornovil, who has played an active role in the protests, shot to
prominence last year when she infiltrated the grounds of
Yanukovich's opulent residence in a park near the Dnieper River.
She has since posted photographs online of the homes of other senior
officials. Zakharchenko was her target on Tuesday. "Here lives the
executioner," the journalist wrote in her blog, above pictures of a
handsome country property.
Hours later, Chornovil was chased on a road outside the capital, a
dashboard camera capturing how a black Porsche Cayenne veered and
rammed into her car before at least two men jumped out. Photographs
and video released later showed a beaten and bloodied Chornovil on a
hospital bed. Her lips were swollen and split, one eye blackened and
closed by bruising.
[to top of second column] |
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and
the United States embassy in Kiev condemned the attack.
The embassy noted "a strikingly similar series of events over the
last few weeks, targeting individuals, property, and political
activity, apparently aimed at intimidating or punishing those linked
to the ... protests."
"We condemn the attack and call for an immediate investigation,
which unlike previous such incidents must result in those
responsible being held fully accountable under the law," it said in
a statement.
Media reports said another opposition activist was stabbed in the
eastern city of Kharkiv on Tuesday.
Yanukovich on Wednesday called on police to find those responsible
for the attack on Chornovil. Two men were later detained and police
said they had identified a third.
The president's pivot away from Europe last month has thrown the
country of 46 million people into turmoil, exposing a deep rift
among Ukrainians over whether their future lies with the EU or
Russia.
Rejecting the EU trade deal, Yanukovich turned instead to Russia for
an aid package worth $15 billion to help ease a worsening financial
crisis. It received a first $3 billion tranche this week.
On Thursday, ratings agency Standard and Poor's revised the outlook
on Ukraine's long-term sovereign 'B-' rating to stable from
negative, saying the bailout would cover the country's financing
needs over the next year.
(Writing by Matt Robinson; editing by Peter Graff)
[© 2013 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2013 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
