Thugs attack Grytsenko during Odesa campaign visit

A gang of 30 thugs attacked on Nov. 28 the head of the
Civic Position party, presidential candidate Anatoliy Grytsenko, and several
party officials during a campaign visit to Odesa, Ukraine’s third-largest city.
As they approached a radio studio for a political discussion, the thugs blocked
their entry before beginning to throw punches. Three party officials were
injured, the party’s press service said.

That night, Grytsenko directly accused the president
of ordering the attack on him. “Is this your idea of a mobilization, Petro
Oleksiyovych?,” he wrote on his Facebook page, addressing the president. He
added, “The organizer and majority of those committing the attacks has been
established. There’s no need to look for who ordered it. He’s well-known.”

Zenon Zawada: It’s not
clear who ordered this attack, and some observers believe it could have been
the Kremlin, with the goal of stirring chaos in the presidential campaign. Indeed
any time a Ukrainian politician is attacked in election campaigning, it works
to their benefit in drawing public sympathy. So it’s hard to believe the
president would be so ill-advised in ordering such an attack.

Nonetheless, it benefits Grytsenko the blame the
president on the attack because it boosts his credibility and public support at
the president’s expense, which is what he needs to do to win. We don’t think
the pro-Western reformer Grytsenko will qualify for the second-round runoff,
but his party is on track to gain a parliamentary faction.