Ukraine's capital Kiev gripped by huge pro-EU demonstration

BBC News online -- 8 December 2013

The BBC's David Stern: "This is the third Sunday in a row that we've seen a giant crowd in the centre of Kiev"

Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in the Ukrainian capital Kiev seeking the resignation of the government for refusing a deal on closer ties with the European Union.

Protest leaders have given President Viktor Yanukovych 48 hours to dismiss the government. They are setting up barricades outside the PM's offices.

Mr Yanukovych has said he shelved the EU deal after Russian opposition.
President Vladimir Putin has urged Kiev to join a Russian-led customs union.

In another development on Sunday, the Ukrainian Security Service said it was investigating some politicians on suspicion of what it called "actions aimed at seizing state power".
It did not name the politicians.

Both Russia and Ukraine denied that the issue of Kiev joining the customs union along with Belarus and Kazakhstan came up during the Putin-Yanukovych meeting in Sochi, in southern Russia.

Correspondents had earlier speculated that an agreement on Ukraine joining the customs union might be reached in return for reduced energy prices. 

The two neighbours have also been trying to resolve a long-running dispute over energy supplies.
Ukraine depends on imports of Russian gas, but the supplier, Gazprom, has recently complained that Kiev had fallen behind in payments.

Disputes over supplies to Ukraine before 2009 saw Gazprom temporarily cutting off supplies.
Pipelines passing through Ukraine also pump Russian gas to many EU member states.

The protests are now in their third week

The main demand of the demonstrators is the resignation of the government

Outside the presidential office, a man was playing an EU-decorated piano in front of policemen

Some demonstrators have come out prepared after clashes with police last week left many injured

'Revolution of dignity'
 
"Any signature to a deal on forming a new Soviet Union means the breakup of the country," said Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a prominent opposition member.

Russia-Ukraine ties

• 1991: Independence from the Soviet Union declared
• 1997: Friendship treaty with Russia and agreement on Black Sea fleet.
• Nov 2004: Moscow-backed candidate Viktor Yanukovych declared president after poll, despite reports of massive fraud. Opposition launches mass protests, dubbed the Orange Revolution
• Dec 2004: Opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko wins re-run
• 2009: Russia briefly stops gas supplies to Ukraine in row over pricing
• 2010: Yanukovych wins presidential election
• July 2013: Russia restricts imports from Ukraine, as Kiev seeks closer EU ties
• Nov 2013: President Yanukovych reverses decision to sign EU deal, triggering mass protests

Waving EU and Ukrainian flags, protesters on Sunday congregated on Kiev's Independence Square - the scene of previous clashes with police.

Ukraine's special police force, Berkut, has been widely condemned for beating protesters in the square - known as Maidan.

The opposition party of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has urged people to "chase" the president "until he falls".

"We are on a razor's edge between a final plunge into cruel dictatorship and a return home to the European community," Mrs Tymoshenko said in a message to the crowd read out by her daughter.
"Don't give in, not a step back, don't give up, the future of Ukraine is in your hands," the message read.

Another opposition leader, Oleh Tyahnybok, said: "It's not just a simple revolution. It's a revolution of dignity."

Opposition MP Serhiy Pashynskyy said that "starting from today and until our demands are met, the government quarter will be blocked with protest rallies".

The protests are the largest since the pro-democracy Orange Revolution in 2004.
A smaller pro-government rally was held close to the opposition march. Police separated the rival protesters.