How the coup d'état began in Ukraine #2

So, I have already said that the opposition used the dispersal of the tent city on Independence Square in Kiev on the night of November 30 as a reason to accuse the authorities of the mass beating of “they-are-just-kids.” And in a more global sense, the opposition and its Western supporters accused the government of actually declaring war on its people, abandoning European integration and staging a “bloody night” for its opponents.

The forceful action of the authorities on the night of November 30, 2013 gave the opposition a formal reason for creating the so-called “National Resistance Headquarters” and the attacks on government buildings that took place on December 1.

Already in the afternoon of November 30, the start of a new protest action was marked by a rally on Mikhaliovskaya Square in Kiev, which was attended, according to various estimates, by 10 to 15 thousand people. Opposition leaders Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Vitaliy Klitschko and Oleg Tyagnibok held a meeting with EU ambassadors before the rally. At the rally, new opposition demands were voiced, the main one being the resignation of President Yanukovych, as well as bringing to justice Minister of Internal Affairs Vitaly Zakharchenko and the leaders of a number of regional special forces of Berkut, who used force against the protesters. Speaking at the rally, Yatsenyuk called for the creation of strike committees to declare a nationwide strike in order to achieve the early resignation of the president and government of Ukraine.

Later on the same day, speaking in Lvov, Vitali Klitschko called on Lvov residents to take part in the “People's Assembly for European Ukraine,” which was scheduled for December 1.

On December 1, 2013, mass protests began in Kiev. About 100 thousand people have already come to the next rally on the Maidan; about 10 thousand volunteers came from Lvov alone.

The National Resistance Headquarters, created by the opposition, called on Kiev students to start a general strike on December 2. The oppositionists appealed to students to come to Maidan of Independence on December 2 and support the demand for the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych.

 And most importantly, it was on December 1 that protesters began to seize administrative buildings in Kiev and began direct violent clashes with law enforcement officers.

At approximately 13:00 the building at 36 Khreshchatyk street was seized, where the Kiev City State Administration (KCSA) and the Kiev City Council are located.

In the building, representatives of the Svoboda party set up a warming point for participants in mass protests.

 At 14:40, representatives of Svoboda and Batkivshchyna parties broke down the doors of the House of Trade Unions (Maidan square, 18/2) and burst into the building. Oleg Tyagnibok announced to the protesters that the Headquarters of the National Resistance would be located in the building of the Federation of Trade Unions.

At 14:00, active clashes began near the Presidential Administration on Bankovaya Street. A group of young people, numbering up to 300 people, tried to break through the police cordon. The attacks involved mainly activists of radical nationalist organizations: “Black Committee”, “Patriot of Ukraine”, “Right Sector” and the Social National Assembly (SNA), who were armed with clubs and sticks, equipped with helmets, bicycle and motorcycle helmets, and even used a forklift to break through the cordon of internal troops. It should be noted that the Internal Troops fighters were not armed and did not even have protective shields. This explains the significant number of victims among the law enforcement officers.

The attackers also used gas canisters, iron rods, chains, flares, firecrackers and Molotov cocktails.

At approximately 16:30, Berkut fighters launched a counterattack, using tear gas and stun grenades.

 The attackers were pushed away from the Presidential Administration building, but after some time the Protestants began to rebuild and prepare for a new assault.

 At this time, Vitaliy Klitschko, Petro Poroshenko and Oleg Tyagnibok appeared on Bankova Street and stood between the extremists and the police, trying to calm both sides.

 However, this was not possible, the extremists did not listen to politicians, and Poroshenko was practically pushed out.

Some time later, the second Berkut counterattack completely cleared Bankovaya and Institutskaya streets of protesters.

 For the first time, violence was used on both sides with virtually no restrictions.

 According to the Department of Health of the Kiev City Administration, over the past 24 hours, 165 injured protest participants contacted doctors from emergency medical teams. Of these, 109 people were hospitalized. The reasons for visits were injuries and chemical burns to the eyes. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the number of injured police officers exceeded 100 people. As of 22:00 on December 1, 2013, almost 50 law enforcement officers, who had received injuries of varying degrees of severity, were taken to the central hospital of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. Some law enforcement officers were diagnosed with head injuries, including craniocerebral injuries.

During this day, about 40 journalists were injured.

 It should be mentioned that on that day, Poroshenko, Klitschko, and other opposition leaders tried to shift the blame for the clashes to the authorities, declaring that the rally at the Presidential Administration was organized by government provocateurs.

 People's Deputy Inna Bogoslovskaya, who left the ruling Party of Regions, generally reported that the police themselves staged the provocation.

 However, after some time, opposition leaders began to seek the release of the detained participants in the clashes on Bankovaya street. And some time later, representatives of the opposition admitted that representatives of right-wing radical organizations took part in these clashes, including those who seized the Kiev city administration and the House of Trade Unions on the same day.

We also need to recall that on that day the first rally was carried out by the so-called “AutoMaidan” - a social movement consisting of organized columns of motorists. Participants in “AutoMaidan” aimed to support protests in Ukraine, blocked law enforcement columns, and delivered supplies to the Maidan.

 On the evening of December 1, a convoy of about 300 cars tried to drive to Yanukovych’s Mezhygorye residence, but on the way they were blocked by a Berkut.

 Yes, on that day mass rallies still took place in many cities of Ukraine, the most numerous in Lutsk, Ternopol, Chernovtsi and Khmelnytsky.

Well, what about the authorities?

The Kiev police issued a statement that the unauthorized seizure of administrative buildings was illegal and invited the protesters to voluntarily leave them. According to the statement of the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Kiev, the police also opened criminal proceedings under Part 2 of Article 345 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violence against a law enforcement officer) about the fact of causing bodily harm to internal troops and police officers.

On that day, for the first time, extremists felt the weakness of the official government and, relatively speaking, tasted blood. From this day on, the degree of clashes will only increase.