Chornobyl Veterans In Ukraine Clash With Police

rferl.org

November 16, 2011

KYIV — Some 500 veterans of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster cleanup have clashed with police in Kyiv, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian and Russian services report.

The protesters picketed the Ukrainian government building demanding « full pensions » and a meeting with Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.

They wanted to meet with Azarov to urge him to annul the government’s recent decision to cut by at least 80 percent the pensions paid to veterans of the 1986 nuclear disaster cleanup and of the Soviet-Afghan war.

When they were told that Azarov would not meet with them, the protesters attempted to force their way into the building. Police and security forces blocked them, which caused clashes. One of the protesters was injured and hospitalized with a heart attack.

The protesters told journalists they were all seriously ill as a result of exposure to radiation during the Chornobyl cleanup in 1986, and they have nothing to lose. They said they were ready to « stop this lawlessness at all costs. »

Some 100 Chornobyl veterans staged a similar protest in the western city of Lviv. Read more…

~ par Alain Bertho sur 17 novembre 2011.

Publié dans émeutes, бунт, riots