There will be a junta! – negotiated march of the Right Sector” in Kyiv
On Friday evening, a Right Sector march took place in the center of Kyiv. The participants promised Ukraine a junta and a single race, accused President Poroshenko and Prime Minister Yatsenyuk of treason, and also demanded to launch an offensive on Donetsk and Lugansk.
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In total, about a thousand people gathered for the rally. Fighters from the OUN, Sich, Tornado and Aidara battalions joined the Right Sector. At the same time, the Azov regiment refused to participate in the march.
“Ask the regiment command any questions regarding Azov’s non-participation in the march,” Right Sector press secretary Artem Skoropadsky answered reporters. Off the record, march participants said that Azov was not allowed to go on the march by the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Arsen Avakov, under whose command the regiment is located.
The march started from the Maidan along Institutskaya Street. In addition to the unit banners, white flags with Celtic crosses, considered symbols of racists and banned for use in European stadiums, were seen. The chant “One race – one nation – one homeland” was heard from time to time.
There were also posters “Poroshenko, leave for Rostov in an amicable way”, “The revolution is not completed. War on the oligarchs and their rumps.”
It is noteworthy that a new slogan “There will be a junta” appeared, which was chanted throughout the procession no less often than the traditional “Glory to Ukraine” and “Glory to the Nation.”
Despite the militantly insulting rhetoric addressed to the current president, right-wing radicals did not turn onto Bankovaya Street towards the administration of the head of state. The march did not linger near the Verkhovna Rada, where after the procession along Institutskaya the procession turned. Here, however, the advance of the column was stopped by activist Irma Krat, known as the leader of the Maidan women’s hundred, who was captured in Slavyansk after the start of the war.
“You’re rolling out an agreement,” she shouted. “They didn’t even stop near the presidential administration, although there is practically no one there, and it could have been taken by storm without any problems, and Poroshenko would have been sent into oblivion today.”
To be fair, it is worth saying that there were indirect grounds for the accusations of “agreement”. During the march, there was very little police, and the press secretary of the Right Sector was constantly coordinating something with the law enforcement officer walking ahead with a walkie-talkie.
The march ended with a rally near the Dynamo stadium at the beginning of Grushevsky Street, where on January 19 last year fierce battles broke out between Maidan protesters and soldiers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The commander of the OUN battalion, Nikolai Kokhanovsky, emphasized in his speech that today there are more political prisoners in Ukraine than under Yanukovych, representatives of the Kiev right-wing radical formation C14 complained that their brothers-in-arms were illegally accused of the murder of the writer Oles Buzina, and the Right Sector promised to recapture Lugansk and Donetsk.
“We demand heavy weapons for volunteer battalions,” said Artem Skoropadsky. “As soon as we receive heavy weapons, we will immediately liberate all the occupied territories.”
Only at the very end did the journalists receive not just radical calls, but some kind of drive - a dozen tires were set on fire next to the stadium restored last year. The flaming flames almost reached the overhanging electrical cable, after which shouts of “Take the people away” were heard, and the fire itself was surrounded.
“With these tires we remind the authorities that the revolution is not over yet,” right-wing activists explained their action. The rally ended with the adoption of a resolution, the main demands of which were the abolition of the Minsk agreements and the launch of an offensive in the Donbass.
As a result of the event, many journalists agreed that what was happening was more reminiscent of a Right Sector election campaign on the eve of local elections scheduled for the fall than an action that could frighten the authorities.
" There will be a junta!" – a negotiated march by the Right Sector in Kyiv.