Monday, December 02, 2013

Ukrainian Opposition Claims 350,000 Protesters at Rally, Gets Provocative


Ukrainian opposition leaders called on Sunday for President Viktor Yanukovich and his government to resign at a rally of about 350,000 people, the biggest protest in the capital Kiev since the "Orange Revolution" of nine years ago.

On a day of huge emotion, which also marked the anniversary of Ukraine's 1991 referendum on independence from the Soviet Union, opposition leaders denounced Yanukovich for walking away from a pact offered by the European Union and swinging trade policy back towards Russia.

"They stole the dream," heavyweight boxer-turned-opposition politician Vitaly Klitschko told the crowds on Independence Square.

"If this government does not want to fulfill the will of the people, then there will be no such government, there will be no such president. There will be a new government and a new president," declared Klitschko, himself a contender for the next presidential election due in 2015.

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