Interior Minister blames opposition for attack on journalists

With journalist Olha Snitsarchuk able to identify her assailant on Saturday and explain exactly how the police simply watched, despite repeated calls for help, Interior Minister Zakharchenko could not come out looking good.  He did not need to make himself and the police look even worse.

Zakharchenko reported to the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday that the person who had assaulted the female journalist had been detained. He added that the 20-year-old’s actions had been classified as hooliganism, and that a court was considering what preventive measure would be applied.

Zakharchenko began by claiming that the whole problem was because there wasn’t a law on peaceful assembly.

He asserted that the opposition had hired strongmen who beat up the journalist and that the opposition had helped to let the armoured car in which provoked the fight. 

This was supposed to be the result of three days investigation into the incidents on Saturday.  

Zakharchenko cited a video conveniently posted on the Internet before Vadim Titushko’s arrest.  The bodybuilder claims that he was hired to ensure safety at an opposition rally.  

During the day Ukrainsky Tyzhden posted an interview with another bodybuilding type who said that he earns a living by “participating” in political protests and raider seizures of premises. He says that he was hired by the Party of the Regions. He admitted to have been part of a group of similar thugs who worked at electoral district 223 on the side of one of the candidates, Viktor Pylypyshyn.  He asserts that his group works under the cover of the police.

The opposition assert that the thugs who attacked the journalists had been seen guarding an anti-fascist rally and that their photo was posted on social networks.