March 6, 2020

March 9, 2000

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Twenty years ago, on March 9, 2000, 11 young adults (aged 19 to 24) who forcibly occupied the Communist Party headquarters in Kyiv surrendered after a 13-hour stand-off with Internal Affairs Ministry police. The protesters issued a series of demands, including a ban on the Communist Party of Ukraine, and threatened to immolate themselves in the building if their demands were not met.

After the stand-off, none of the demands were met and the protesters were escorted to police vehicles after they voluntarily left the building. However, a member of the group said that its occupation had succeeded in bringing attention to the group’s cause.

The protesters were charged with forcible occupation of a building and assault with inflictment of bodily injury, which carried a maximum of eight years’ imprisonment. Among the protesters were six students of the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy and Kyiv State University, as well as a young high school teacher, with all being members of a political organization known as Independent Ukraine. Four of the protesters were members of the National Rukh of Ukraine Party.

Their demands included the lustration of government bodies of former and current Communist Party members, the complete reorganization of state law enforcement bodies, official recognition for veterans of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists as World War II veterans with the right to all benefits associated with such status, and the immediate payment of wage and pension arrears.

Inspired by the nationalist Mykola Mikhnovsky, the protesters unfurled a 20-meter banner from the building that read, “A single, united, free and independent Ukraine from the Carpathian Mountains to the Caucasus.” In preparation for the stand-off, the protesters poured nearly 120 liters of gasoline on the floors of the building.

Serving as negotiators were: Hennadii Udovenko, leader of the National Rukh of Ukraine Party, and Oleksander Chornovo­lenko, head of the party in Kyiv, as well as Mykhailo Ratushnyi (Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists) and Oleksander Yemets (Reforms and Order Party).

The Communist Party of Ukraine, led by Petro Symonenko, said the occupation was “an organized effort by the government.” The CPU also accused Mr. Udovenko and other organized political parties of involvement.

Mr. Udovenko stated: “The National Rukh of Ukraine is being condemned because it took part in negotiations with [the students]. Meanwhile the Communists in Ukraine are not being held accountable at all for those crimes they perpetrated against the Ukrainian nation.”

Source: “Youths who seized Communist Party HQ surrender after 13-hour stand-off with militia,” by Roman Woronowycz, The Ukrainian Weekly, March 19, 2000.

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