Police arrests blockade activists in Donetsk region, shuts down post

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) arrested 43 armed blockade activists in the zone of the Anti-Terrorist Operation in the Donetsk region on March 13, Interfax-Ukraine said. A refusal to surrender arms to the police was the reason for the arrest, the Anti-Terrorism Center said, adding that many armaments and Molotovs were confiscated. In addition, the SBU and special police forces shut down the railroad blockade post where the arrests ocurrred, in the town of Kryviy Torets.

Early this morning, Parliamentary Vice Speaker Oksana Syroyid of the Self-Reliance party said she was informed by the SBU that all the arrested activists have been released. This was confirmed by Semen Semenchenko, a Self-Reliance MP and war veteran who is among the blockade’s key organizers.

The arrest of the activists triggered protests from nationalists and blockade activists in several cities, including Kyiv’s famous Maidan. Another Maidan protest is planned for this evening, as activists remain unconvinced by the government’s arguments to halt the blockade, which is the economic damage it’s doing to the country as a whole.

Zenon Zawada: The month-long conflict between the government and the blockade activists is intensifying. For the first time, the activists have had state officials – whom they’ve long resented for their handling of the war – in an uncomfortable position, which prompted the arrests. Yet the blockade is still popular with the public, which is also highly dissatisfied with the government’s handling of the war.

We see the blockade’s future being decided during these days. If the government is able to get past the backlash surrounding the arrests and the shutdown of the first blockade post, it will be able to gradually remove all other posts and completely unblock trade routes between the occupied territories and the mainland. Otherwise, the activists will dig in deeper, with the potential to trigger a political crisis.

A large factor in who triumphs in this conflict is public opinion. With the ball in their court, activists need to be careful in not taking any steps that will shift public opinion towards the government.