There were several clashes on May 9 during the Victory Day celebrations in Ukraine.
Column of people laying flowers to the Memorial of Glory in Kharkiv consisted of several parts. First came the veterans, representatives of the authorities and patriotic youth with Ukrainian flags. At the end of the column were people with red flags, flags and portraits of the participants of the World War II. Some of these people had St. George ribbons attached to the chest, similar ribbons were on the portraits of war veterans. In this part of the column there was a deputy of Kharkiv City Council Andrei Lesik, who constantly emphasized his pro-Russian stance, said Unian.net.
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The fight broke out between these people and the patriotic youth.
The pro-Ukrainian youth was pushed back away from the monument, then several more clashes happened.
According to the information from the “Interfax-Ukraine” agency, the police carried out preventive talks with about 15 people, none of them was detained. As a result of a fight there were people injured, but the police have not yet named their number.
In Kyiv, the collision occurred during the “Immortal Regiment” rally. Radical “right” activists tried to stop the march and burn St. George’s ribbons, Delo.ua reports. The police stopped them, after which they left the rally.
The fight took place after the participant of the action demanded that one of the women took off the St. George ribbon. The police stopped the young man, TV channel 112.ua reports.
In 2015 in Ukraine, the celebration of Victory in the Great Patriotic War was renamed in to the Victory Day over Nazism in World War II. On Sunday, 8 May, the country had a day of memory and reconciliation.
