Marchers Want Ukraine President Out
02/06/2001 | Broker
Tuesday February 6 9:54 AM ET
Marchers Want Ukraine President Out
foto: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/ap/20010206/wl/ukraine_protest_73t.html
By MARINA SYSOYEVA, Associated Press Writer
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Thousands of opposition protesters from around Ukraine marched Tuesday through the capital, Kiev, decrying rampant corruption and demanding the ouster of President Leonid Kuchma.
Carrying portraits of Kuchma with his face crossed out, about 5,000 demonstrators marched from a tent camp in central Kiev that opposition activists have occupied since December to parliament, chanting ``Ukraine without Kuchma!''
The demonstration comes amid a growing uproar over allegations that Kuchma, elected to a second five-year term in 1999, played a role in the September disappearance of a journalist who was critical of the government.
Tuesday's march was the second this week supported by both left-wing and right-wing parties - rare solidarity in a country deeply split between those nostalgic for the stability of Soviet days and those committed to a free market.
All are frustrated by corruption, which has stalled economic growth and scared away foreign investors.
``I'm here because many people were killed for him (Kuchma),'' said an 18-year-old student protester who identified herself only as Tania.
The demonstrators came from all over Ukraine. One group marched for days from the western city of Zhytomyr, about 87 miles from Kiev, and other protesters hailed from the Black Sea port of Odessa, 250 miles to the south.
``God will save Ukraine, if we free it from Kuchma,'' said Oleksandra Oliyarnyk, who came from Lviv in western Ukraine. He held a platter heaped with dried flowers, a sheaf of wheat, beans and bread - a traditional Ukrainian talisman called an ``oberih,'' believed to protect people from evil.
Journalists and some legislators say the missing journalist, Heorhiy Gongadze, was most likely the victim of a politically motivated attack. Authorities say a headless body found in November was almost certainly his.
Audio tapes recorded by a former presidential bodyguard and distributed by an opposition legislator purportedly captured Kuchma and security aides discussing taking action against Gongadze.
Kuchma has fiercely denied he issued orders to silence the journalist.
Marchers Want Ukraine President Out
foto: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/ap/20010206/wl/ukraine_protest_73t.html
By MARINA SYSOYEVA, Associated Press Writer
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Thousands of opposition protesters from around Ukraine marched Tuesday through the capital, Kiev, decrying rampant corruption and demanding the ouster of President Leonid Kuchma.
Carrying portraits of Kuchma with his face crossed out, about 5,000 demonstrators marched from a tent camp in central Kiev that opposition activists have occupied since December to parliament, chanting ``Ukraine without Kuchma!''
The demonstration comes amid a growing uproar over allegations that Kuchma, elected to a second five-year term in 1999, played a role in the September disappearance of a journalist who was critical of the government.
Tuesday's march was the second this week supported by both left-wing and right-wing parties - rare solidarity in a country deeply split between those nostalgic for the stability of Soviet days and those committed to a free market.
All are frustrated by corruption, which has stalled economic growth and scared away foreign investors.
``I'm here because many people were killed for him (Kuchma),'' said an 18-year-old student protester who identified herself only as Tania.
The demonstrators came from all over Ukraine. One group marched for days from the western city of Zhytomyr, about 87 miles from Kiev, and other protesters hailed from the Black Sea port of Odessa, 250 miles to the south.
``God will save Ukraine, if we free it from Kuchma,'' said Oleksandra Oliyarnyk, who came from Lviv in western Ukraine. He held a platter heaped with dried flowers, a sheaf of wheat, beans and bread - a traditional Ukrainian talisman called an ``oberih,'' believed to protect people from evil.
Journalists and some legislators say the missing journalist, Heorhiy Gongadze, was most likely the victim of a politically motivated attack. Authorities say a headless body found in November was almost certainly his.
Audio tapes recorded by a former presidential bodyguard and distributed by an opposition legislator purportedly captured Kuchma and security aides discussing taking action against Gongadze.
Kuchma has fiercely denied he issued orders to silence the journalist.