The Green Party condemns Kiev bloodshed

19 February 2014

FOLLOWING the violent storming of the ‘Maidan’ protest camp by police in Kiev, Ukraine, last night, Shahrar Ali, Green Party spokesperson on International Affairs, said:

"The peace-loving, rights-bearing people of Europe learn today, with increasing horror and trepidation, of the tens of protestors killed and countless injured by security forces in Kiev last night. There can be no justification for the perpetration of violence in the hands of the state." 

Dr Ali said, "Ukraine President Yanukovych has declared a day of mourning, yet in the same breath blames the democratic reformers for the bloodshed. It is the protestors who were on the receiving end of state water cannon and plastic bullets, on the bloodiest day in the country's post-Soviet history."

The Green Party advocate that open dialogue between protesters and state must be achieved so that the conflict can be resolved as peacefully as possible.

Dr Ali added, "EU citizens must rise to this challenge, with renewed imagination and vigour. We cannot rely on our politicians alone. We must take to the streets to demand the right to peaceful protest home and abroad. Spectating is not an option." 

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