UCU students face prosecution for peaceful protest

The Lviv regional police are determined to prosecute Ukrainian Catholic University students who blocked the road from Kyiv to Chop on Nov 26.   As reported, the students did this in protest when the traffic police blocked coaches with peaceful protesters who were heading for Kyiv.  This was a clear infringement of the protesters’ rights however the police choose to concentrate only on the students’ reaction. 

Vasyl Kundyk, head investigator for the Lviv regional police addressed this during a meeting of a temporary commission called to analyze the situation in Lviv as the result of the large-scale protests in support of European integration.

Kundyk spoke of a kilometre-long queue having formed, and of “unlawful actions, criminal liability”.  He asserted that the fact that the traffic police had ripped the number plates of one of the coaches could not be an excuse for blocking the road.  In his view, “they should have found some other way of travelling, and not blocked the road”.