(Vatican Radio) Thousands of Ukrainians demonstrated on Saturday against a government
decision to suspend preparations for a trade pact with the European Union. The protests
come as the country also commemorates a Soviet-era famine that killed millions of
people.
Braving freezing rain, the protesters marched through the streets
of the capital Kyiv, angry at the Ukrainian government’s decision to cancel a long-planned
Association Agreement with the European Union. Instead, the government wants to strengthen
ties with neighboring Russia.
The protesters gathered at the capital's famed
Independence Square, the same site where Ukraine's pro-Western Orange Revolution began
nearly nine years ago. Similar rallies have been held in other cities across Ukraine.
If it's up to boxer-turned-opposition-leader Vitali Klitschko, much bigger demonstrations
will be organized this weekend. “Our main task is to get united because we are united
by the desire to live in a better country", he told reporters. "What do we have to
do? Every one of us has to bring 20, 40, 100 people here. And then, if there are a
lot of us, we can go and demand.”
He and jailed former Prime Minister Yulia
Tymoshenko urged Ukrainians to fill the streets until November 24th, the
ninth anniversary of the Orange Revolution. The opposition says Ukraine should look
westwards, more than 20 years after it declared independence from the Soviet Union.
However, the government claims that Ukraine should take into account the effects of
trade with Russia, which opposes the agreement.
The demonstrations come a
time when Ukraine remembers that 80 years ago millions died in a famine that many
label a genocide, under the regime of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Between 1932 and
1933 Soviet authorities seized Ukrainian farms and crops as part of Stalin's policy
of forced collectivization.
Those caught having food, or stealing even a tiny
bit of grain, were harshly punished or executed. Historians say as many as 10 million
people may have died in the man-made famine, which is known as the Holodomor in Ukraine.