Protests in Ukraine continued on Sunday, as hundreds of thousands reportedly gathered in the center of the capital of Kiev. One group of protesters pulled down a statue of Vladimir Lenin.
From the LA Times:
Protesters toppled a monument to Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin on Sunday during the biggest march and rally in central Kiev since President Viktor Yanukovich galvanized his opposition by turning down a trade deal with the European Union.
The Ukrainian protesters blocked and barricaded government offices and said they were giving Yanukovich 48 hours to disband his government before they would march on his country residence near Kiev.
In turning down the trade deal with the EU, Yanukovich was effectively asserting that Russia remained Ukraine’s key trade partner. The country is politically and geographically divided, to some extent, between those who favor ties to Russia and those who would like to see Ukraine more aligned with Western Europe.
That gave the toppling of the Lenin statue particular significance — despite the fact that most Lenin statues in Russia itself were torn down during the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Statues of the Soviet leader were once ubiquitous throughout the East bloc.
No police officers could be seen anywhere in the vicinity of Taras Shevchenko boulevard where the granite and marble monument was brought down by a group of young protesters.
“It is amazing how the authorities allowed Lenin to go down!” said Sergei Andriyenko, a 51-year-old Kiev businessman who applauded the action. “Where were the police, where were the communists who were always protecting him?”
I have to admit, I didn’t immediately post the first reports of the statue’s toppling, as there have been many fake reports and photos circulating on social media in recent days alleging similar claims, making it difficult to know what’s true and not. But Reuters reported today that one of its reporters was on the scene this time.
A Reuters reporter at the scene saw the protesters breaking up the statue with hammers after toppling it with the help of metal bars and rope. The move came after an anti-government rally in Kiev attended by hundreds of thousands of people.
Business Insider gathered a collection of photos of the action, and there is additional video available here.
As we’ve reported here at Legal Insurrection, the protests have rattled Ukraine ever since its president backed out of signing an association agreement with the European Union. The protests, also encouraged by opposition leaders, have since expanded into anti-government sentiment.
(Featured image credit: AP video screen shot via USA Today)
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Obama could not be reached for comment.
But did they damage the statue of Paul Walker?
“where were the communists who were always protecting him”
There in American universities.
Are there any statues of Obama?
Yes. It’s called Narcissus with the LSM in the role of Echo.
I do wonder if Ukraine would be better off splitting itself in two. The eastern part heavily favors Russia because many of the citizens there are Russians brought in by Stalin. Try moving them. The west is mostly Ukrainian in ethnicity and looks to the west.
Find a way to divide the country and let people vote with their feet.
There is talk of that. Eastern Ukraine and Crimea are more culturally alined with Russia.
I can’t quite make it out, but I think the protesters chopping up the statue are speaking Russian.
I love it when evil takes a beating and can’t get up!
Why would Ukrainians have so much hatred for John Lennon?
We need to see this kind of passion in our own citizens.
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
–Sic semper tyrannis.
Given this is the Ukraine, how long before they start blaming the Jews for stirring up the local populace and causing problems for the government?
Answer: Five, four, three….
Oh, I don’t know. They do hate Russians there, with a passion. Pols also.
Obama is probably dispatching Air Force One to pick up what’s left for display in the Oval Office.
Boehner will probably sign for the delivery.
I wonder what would happen if a group of protesters tried to do the same thing to the statue of Lenin that stands in Fremont Washington outside Seattle?