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| Europe |
| In Kiev square, protesters hold together |
| 2014-02-22 |
| [USATODAY] Independence Square, the heart of the Ukrainian protest movement, looked very much Friday like an anthill. Thousands of people were moving about the square and each person had a designated task. Men in camouflage patrolled the area, heaped with burnt trash, taking shifts at barricades erected to keep out the police. With purses wedged under their arms, women in glossy boots swept up the ashes. And then there were the protesters, who stood firm as they have for weeks. "Am I scared to be here? Sometimes, maybe. Like everyone else. But what happens if everyone surrenders to fear? We must stand for changes," says Yevhen, shrugging his shoulders. The square is a longtime symbol in Ukraine history of political expression that was renamed to commemorate the country's freedom from the Soviet Union and Russia in 1991. Protesters here asked that their full names not be used for fear of retribution from a regime that had police to gun down their comrades for refusing to leave a spot they have held for weeks in hopes of forcing the resignation of hated president Viktor Yanukovych. |
| Posted by:Fred |