Police Use Force to Secure Entrance to Constitutional Court
A fracas occurred Wednesday morning as opposition supporters tried to barricade the Constitutional Court Building, Ukrainska Pravda reports.
To gain entry, police forcibly removed protesters, including several Orange MPs. Local prosecution authorities have threatened criminal proceedings.
Former BYuT campaign manager Mykhailo Brodsky accused Tymoshenko of an attempt to bribe Justices.
Good news for soccer fans: Ukraine and Poland won the right to host the Euro 2012, leaving Italy, the top candidate, deeply surprised.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
Why were opposition supporters blockading the building?
As a foreigner, I don't get these things...
dlw
I hear that OR organizers are finally calling on people to come and protest at Maidan, up and until there are new elections!
I will continue to tell others about Ukraine, I am hoping that in the wake of our own tragedy that we will not let that consume our attention and make us hyper-sensitive about our security again.
dlw
La Russophobe suggests (part of) the answer is for the west to seriously threaten to expel Russia from G8 and the WTO...
dlw
At least title the photo as "Judge Slaps MP".
let’s say theoretically the CC, for whatever reason, rules that Yuschenko violated the Constitution by dissolving parliament and calling for new elections. How significant is it that Yuschenko has publicly vowed to honor the court’s decision? I don’t think the OR-crowd could maintain a credible threat to have an OR rally if the president/EU were officially throwing in the towel…
I guess it wd then be up to whatever “elections” NU cooked up to defuse the hypothetical situation?
I’m asking because, while it seems things are sitting pretty right now, the CC has the potential to mess things up, largely because, IMHO, Yuschenko has officially said that they matter and (so far) doesn’t seem willing to replace the CC with fresh judges.
dlw
I think they blockaded the Constitutional Court Building mainly to generate publicity and to raise the public’s awareness of the Court’s possible corruption.
Maidan 1 — the presence of large numbers of people on the streets of Kyiv — served as a deterrent that prevented the High Court from accepting bribes. In the absence of Maidan 2, the Constitutional Court may deviate from that code of conduct.
Aside form the fact that isolation strategies can be counter-productive, Russia’s geopolitical clout and energy resources make it immune to any such scenario. I doubt that the West will expel the Russian bear from the G8 or disqualify it from WTO accession only because he has departed from democracy. At the end of the day, oil and natural gas, the tangible goodies he brings on the table, carry more weight with the West than freedom and democracy, the intangible values he has thrown under the table.
As Michael Hancock, a British member of the Council of Europe, put it two hours ago, “Yushchenko and Yanukovych may deserve each other, but Ukraine deserves neither.” I subscribe to his statement with the reservation that Yushchenko made the right call in the current situation. He did what a president is supposed to do.
And we have a very difficult situation here. It’s a total mess, and my guess is only as good as yours. Time will tell. After a series of false starts, we need to mobilize Maidan 2 this Friday.
Politicians are using the people power to 'score' off one another. And in the meantime the Parliament and the PM are busy, busy, busy finishing the job that was rudely interrupted by Yushchenko - whole sale purchse of a country.
You know, it would be so cool if sometime after Maidan 2 got started, many USAmericans and Europeans would also show support for new elections by wearing orange...
I think I'm going to suggest that to some of the reporters that have been writing on Ukraine...
dlw
dude, tell us what's going on!!!
dlw
You’re right, we the people are at the bottom of our politicians’ food chains. To a great extent, we’re being played off one against the other. But we just can’t sit idly as Yanukovych finalizes his takeover of Ukraine. We need to change the rules of the game. It’s about time we started playing them one against the other, instead of just letting them do it to us. And by the way, don’t you guys have names or something:)?
David, you’re being more optimistic than most of us Orange folks here in Ukraine are:) It is my general impression that, following the ordeals in the Orange camp, Europe and America have been exhausted from Ukraine, to the point of not caring to know what’s what:(
One way to help the Orange Revolution regain its colors would be for Western reporters to start providing more accurate, non-Moscowcentric, and in-depth coverage.
Enjoy my belated report:)
I disagree...
and I'll try to prove it!
and 'bout time...
dlw
Taras, my name is Luida. I came and read this post after your beautiful piece regarding Maidan (what version is it?) to which I posted.
I cannot say that I am optimistic as there is tremendous pressure on Yushchenko NOT to have new elections. Conflicting stories - all standing firm, an easing of demands, compromise reached, - it makes for very schizophrenic reading with articles contradicting each other coming out at the same time. So what is going on? It almost feels like pushing mountains closer to one another.
But some compromise has been reached - the framework of it and now is being worked out the details. Sticking point - elections. How wedded to this is Yushchenko? IMHO on this point he should be immovable and absolute. (But I fear for the worst.) So yeah, I am bsicly "keeping on the bright side of life".
David, I’d be glad to be proved wrong. Tell me Europe and America still care. As Fox Mulder put it, "I want to believe.":)
Nice to see you again, Luida:) Now I know your name. Names make communication easier.
Back to Ukraine, I’m getting the same "schizophrenic" signals:( We’re all thoroughly confused as to what kind of compromise there will be — "constitutional amendments plus elections" (?), "amendments but no elections" (?) — or whether there will be any compromise at all. Will the Regionalists agree to a clean rematch — to re-legitimize themselves — given the loss-of-power risks involved? Will the Court’s ruling make everyone happy? Can we trust this Court? Does Yushchenko have a Plan B? What happens the “day after?”
The hour is near, but the situation is not at all clear.
However, regardless of all the unknowns, regardless of who wins — and it’s quite possible that there will be no victors in the Battle of Two Viktors — bloodshed seems unlikely.
Post a Comment