Anti-Russian Law Protesters Stage Sit-in in Ukraine
Several hundred opponents of a law elevating the status of Russian in Ukraine camped out in Kiev on Thursday and several pressed on with hunger strikes as political tensions soared over the contentious issue.
The sit-in outside a conference center in the capital Kiev follows Wednesday's violent clashes between around a thousand protesters and police triggered by the rushed passing by parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, of the law the day earlier.
The measure boosting the status of the Russian language has proved highly polarising in the traditionally bilingual country and drawn the ire of the Ukrainian nationalists promoting the ex-Soviet country's independence from Moscow.
"We will be on hunger strike until they annul the language law," said lawmaker Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, leader of Za Ukrainu! (For Ukraine!) party, who is one of 11 hunger-striking protesters including six parliament members.
"We are going to stay here, we do not have any plans yet," the lawmaker, who went on hunger strike on Tuesday evening, told Agence France Presse in Ukrainian.
The protesters include supporters of nationalist parties including the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform headed by boxing star and opposition figure Vitali Klitschko whose hand was injured in Wednesday's brawl.
Signs at the sit-in that saw around 150 protesters spending the night at the camp outside the conference hall read "Down with Moscow occupiers," "There is no place for Russian chauvinism in democratic Ukraine," and "Down with Russian imperialism."
President Viktor Yanukovych, whose Regions Party has pushed through the law, cancelled a major news conference and convened an emergency meeting of parliament chiefs after Verkhovna Rada speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn tendered his resignation in protest.
Around 150 people, many of them students and pensioners, came out in support of Yanukovych, gathering outside his offices and holding Ukrainian flags.
Source: Agence France Presse
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