Poroshenko confronted with biggest protest of his presidency
18 October 2017
The largest protests since President Poroshenko’s
election in 2014 were held on Oct. 17 in front of Ukraine’s parliament, which
erupted in brawls with police and attacks on MPs, but only a handful of
injuries. Several thousand activists gathered to call upon parliament to vote
immediately on introducing open-list voting, creating an independent
anti-corruption court and ending political immunity for MPs. The raucous
protests, led by former exile Mikheil Saakashvili, culminated with the setting
up of a few dozen tents in the evening.
As of this morning, a few hundred activists were
inhabiting the tent city in front of Ukraine’s parliament. The protests have
the support of Ukraine’s leading Western-backed NGOs; Donbas war veterans;
nationalist forces; and pro-Western opposition parties, including Yulia
Tymoshenko’s Fatherland party and the Self-Reliance party. Russian-oriented
forces haven’t lent their support.
Poroshenko told an afternoon press conference that he
understood the concern of the protesters and viewed them with respect. At the
same time, he called upon law enforcement to ensure that they remained
peaceful.
In a blog post, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko
called for peaceful protests, stressing that he would pursue investigations of
those responsible for violent acts. He said he had reports of certain
protestors possessing firearms, which was the basis for the intensified
security. He said no attempt would be made to dismantle the tent city, but
added that metal fences would remain in place.
Zenon Zawada: It’s ironic
and embarassing for Poroshenko – among the organizers of previous “maidan”
protests (including the Orange revolt) – to now be targeted with a similar tent
city protest. So far, the protest is limited to a close circle of politically
astute activists and we don’t expect the general public to join en masse, at
this stage.
We expect Poroshenko will attempt to find compromise
on ending political immunity for MPs (having submitted a bill yesterday), as
well as setting up an independent anti-corruption court (largely because it’s
being required by the IMF). We expect staunch resistance to changing the
election system to exclusive open-list voting (and eliminating single-mandate
districts).
that began with these political issues could expand to cover a multitude of
other gripes the public has with the government. So a chess match has begun in
which the president has to be particularly careful in keeping this fire of
protest from burning out of control.
