Thousands besiege Govt buildings in bid to remove Ukraine PM
Thousands of Ukrainian protesters have blocked entrances to the government building and called for the removal of the prime minister and his cabinet, as anger at the president’s decision to ditch a deal for closer ties with the EU gripped other parts of the country and threatened his rule.
The besieging of the building follows a huge rally in the capital by hundreds of thousands Ukrainians on Sunday which was mostly peaceful until a group of protesters tried to storm president Viktor Yanukovych’s office. After hours of scuffles, police chased protesters away with tear gas and truncheons.
It was a violent police action against protesters early on Saturday that galvanised the latest round of protests, whose aim is to bring down the president and his government.
At least three politicians of the governing Party of Regions have quit in protest, and the opposition wants to oust the cabinet of prime minister Mykola Azarov during a confidence vote in parliament on Tuesday. But the opposition, which now controls some 170 seats, would need 226 votes in the 450-seat parliament to oust the government.
Mr Azarov’s spokesman Vitaly Lukyanenko said on Monday the government was not planning to impose a state of emergency. He would not say whether the prime minister and his ministers were able to enter the cabinet building, according to the Interfax news agency.
In parts of western Ukraine, where most speak Ukrainian and lean towards the EU, some local officials seem to be in open revolt.
The mayor of Lviv called on the people there to protest and warned that police would take off their uniforms and defend the city if central government sends reinforcements. Scores of protesters from Lviv and elsewhere in western Ukraine headed to Kiev by train and cars to take part in the rallies.
“Yanukovych is – both, as president and as a politician – done,” said Andreas Umland, assistant professor of European studies at the Kyiv Mohyla Academy.
In Kiev, thousands returned at Independence Square, where several hundred core protesters had spent the night in a tent camp. Hundreds of others were holding ground inside Kiev city hall and a labour union building, where they had barricaded themselves on Sunday.
“Our goal is to oust the authorities through strikes,” said Serhiy Korchinsky, 35, an engineer from Lviv who spent the night in the protest camp. “The government will be paralysed until Yanukovych and Azarov resign.”
Protests have been held daily in Kiev since Mr Yanukovych backed away from an agreement that would have established free trade and deepened political co-operation between Ukraine and the EU. He justified the decision by saying that Ukraine could not afford to break trade ties with Russia.
