How much force will the Prime Minister dare use? Will the military back him against the people? They are heavily influenced by their American advisors. This is getting close to civil war.
Ukraine Protesters March on Parliament
Tue Nov 23, 2004 09:53 AM ET
By Yuri Kulikov
KIEV (Reuters) - Up to 200,000 protesters rallied outside an emergency session of Ukraine's parliament on Tuesday demanding authorities admit they cheated in a presidential poll which showed the country's Moscow-backed prime minister had won.
Parliamentary deputies held the session in response to calls from supporters of West-leaning challenger Viktor Yushchenko, who says he was robbed of victory in Sunday's second-round run-off by backers of Prime minister Viktor Yanukovich.
But with the absence of Yanukovich's allies, the session did not muster enough deputies to empower the chamber to make any decision binding on the authorities.
Deputies could still issue a request to the country's leaders expressing concern over the turmoil sparked by the contested poll, though parliament cannot overturn results that award victory to Yanukovich.
"We are sliding toward the abyss. It is amoral and criminal to pretend nothing is happening in the country," parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn told deputies at the debate's start.
"We must act in good time otherwise the people will decide on our behalf tomorrow."
Pro-Yushchenko protesters marched in two columns toward the parliament building, their lines snaking up to three km (two miles) from the city center.
"Our joint action will lead to political success. We are therefore now forming lines and moving toward parliament," Yushchenko told demonstrators gathered in a Kiev square.
The demonstrators had turned out for a second day of raucous protest after preliminary results showed he lost Sunday's poll.
The center of the capital seethed with anger and defiance as speakers stepped up to the microphone in Independence Square to pledge loyalty to Yushchenko.
"We are fighting for democracy and we will win," declared Ihor Ostash, an opposition parliamentary deputy, draped like others in the orange campaign colors of Yushchenko's camp.
U.S. and Western observers say the second round run-off presidential vote fell far short of international standards.
Washington warned of punitive measures if the Kiev leadership failed to investigate allegations of vote rigging and the European Union described the vote as "fraudulent."
In Brussels, the European parliament's chief observer said Sunday's run-off defied common sense and had more in common with a North Korean election.
In the nationalist heartland of western Ukraine, some 100,000 protesters marched through the city of Lviv to back Yushchenko. Several thousand protesters massed in other western towns, including Lutsk and Khmelnitsky.
Nearly two dozen Ukrainian diplomats signed a statement protesting the election "being turned into a shameful war against our own people."
SECURITY FORCES' WARNING
With passions high against the background of a warning on Monday from security forces that they would crush unrest "quickly and firmly," the political split could turn violent.
Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, who has long backed Yanukovich as his successor, has said nothing since the vote.
Yanukovich, who has been congratulated by his most powerful backer, Russian President Vladimir Putin, has not declared victory but virtually assumed the mantle of president on Monday, by appearing on television beside the national flag to denounce Yushchenko and his supporters.
Undeterred by the threat of a crackdown, many speakers on Independence Square urged students to seize control of universities that have been largely abandoned for several days.
Stretching about 100 meters (yards) down Kiev's main Khreshchatyk thoroughfare were ranks of tents where at least 1,500 Yushchenko supporters camped out overnight in biting cold.
Busloads of special forces guarded the election commission headquarters as Yushchenko supporters drove past earlier, tooting horns in derision.
"We are against the cynicism of the authorities. We are against a police state," said protester Yuri Kovalchuk, a 36-year-old former military officer said.
Banners in the sea of protesters included the Georgian red and white flag -- a reminder that November 23 was the first anniversary of Georgia's mass "rose revolution" that toppled veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze and elected a pro-Westerner.
But it was uncertain if Ukraine's liberals could force similar changes.
Protesters, breaking off from sipping soup from vacuum flasks, burst into sporadic chants of "Yushchenko, Yushchenko."
The election gave Ukrainians a stark choice. Yanukovich sees closer ties with Russia as the key to prosperity, while his rival calls for gradual integration with the West.
It also underlined the divide between the nationalist west and the industrial Russian-speaking east that backed Yanukovich.
"I think about what will happen with Ukraine in the next 10 years," said Yulia, a student. "If a president appointed by the authorities will stay, I will be afraid to go in the streets." |
