On New Year’s Eve pro-European protesters in Kyiv addressed to the head of state shifting responsibility for stillborn economic policy onto him and announced their reluctance to ‘wake up in a Soviet republic some day’.
‘I did not want to be here, at cold Maidan; I would like to be with my wife, help my grandchildren and look after great-grandchildren. But when my wife saw young people who had been severely beaten she sent me to Maidan,’ an elderly protester said. It is the brutal attempt to disperse a peaceful demonstration on Maidan that triggered further protests in Ukraine.
{movie}Protesters’ address to President Yanukovych (in Ukrainian)|right|14038{/movie}
‘I wish we would never have to defend our wives and children from you and your malicious orders,’ a man said.
‘Mr President, for the three years uder your rule the Ukrainian people have realized that your words and promises are idle. Our young team have brilliantly reformed Ukrainian mass media: at last journalists have jobs and substantial wages – in exchange for their good conscience. The hryvnia is on the brink of its crash; even my Granny knows that. But you are sure to remain unaffected – the crash will have difficulty climbing over five-meter plot which you are hiding behind,’ the address says.
The participants want Mr Yanukovych to know that Ukrainians will never be ruled by mafia.
‘We are Europeans, we will be in the European Union with or without you,’ the protesters crown it all.
