A number of prominent Ukrainian NGOs have issued an appeal open for endorsement regarding possible threats to the adoption of a democratic and vital draft Law on Civic Organizations

The court ban on 22 and 23 September, supposedly because of mass protests when events by State officials were planned, was used by police to disperse a large number of small and entirely peaceful gatherings

On 15 September 2011 a protest on Independence Square in Kyiv ended in a scuffle with police. Mykhailo Kamenyev, a member of the Public Committee under the MIA, and specifically its Commission on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly was present at the event and considers that there needs to be a proper legal assessment given to what took place

The court explained its decision by saying that the notification of planned measures on those days suggested a number of participants in excess of 50 thousand, and this could lead to conflict situations and infringement of public order

After several weeks of conflict with the law enforcement bodies, Denis Oleinykov, owner of ProstoPrint which produced the T-shirts reading "Thank You, Residents of Donbas" informs that he has left Ukraine, fearing arrest.

There has been outrage over the proposal by the Kyiv City State Administration to seriously restrict peaceful assembly near State institutions. Nor have the reassuring noises from public officials regarding the official scope of the proposed changes allayed fears

Draft Regulations posted on the official website of the Kyiv City State Administration would restrict the right to hold public events near State institutions

A large crowd made up mainly of Afghanistan War veterans gathered outside parliament to protest against a draft law which will legalize reductions in benefits due war veterans, rescue workers whose health was seriously damaged at the site of the Chernobyl Disaster and pensioners

In recent days, the firm producing T-shirts sarcastically thanking residents of Donbas has been subjected to searches by law enforcement officials, some of its property has been confiscated, and its employees have been called in for questioning.

“You know we have the right to not like the authorities. They do not have the right to not like us. We make no secret of the fact that we don’t like this regime and we came to show that you can dislike this regime in a creative and interesting fashion”.

The court on Tuesday found no administrative offences in the actions of six of the seven people detained for alleged failure to obey police orders during an attempt to erect tents on Khreshchatyk

On Monday Berkut riot police removed all the tents which supporters of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko had put up across the road from the court where her trial is taking place. According to BYUT MPs, 11 people were detained during the scuffles that ensued.

According to the Chair of the Committee on Law Enforcement Body Legislation, the Committee wants to know "the grounds for Internal Affairs bodies to have unlawfully obstructed the peaceful movement of Ukrainian citizens through those Kyiv streets where movement had not been banned in accordance with rulings from the Kyiv Administrative Court”.

Human rights activist V. Chemerys points to a significant deterioration over the summer in observance of the right to peaceful assembly. The law enforcement officers are, he says, questioning people to show that they won’t leave those who stick their neck out in peace

Many opposition deputies, themselves summonsed for police questioning over the protest on Independence Day, may now be unable to attend the trials of the former Prime Minister and former Minister of Internal Affairs which are arousing increasing concern both in Ukraine and abroad

The Shevchenkivsky District Court in Kyiv has jailed for 10 days the woman who on 24 August, according to information from opposition party sources, in protest against political repression, cut the President’s name off the ribbon on the wreath which read “To Taras Shevchenko from Viktor Yanukovych”.

Levko Lukyanenko, 83, spent 27 years in the Soviet camps and was one of the founding members in 1976 of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. He was summoned over the opposition demonstration on Independence Day

Following categorical denials plus an attempt to pass the canister off as an item of "personal hygiene" and clear proof of this being at variance with the truth the police have confirmed that “a Berkut officer” used teargas against protesters

Ukrainska Pravda’s Serhiy Leshchenko clearly demonstrates that the police statements categorically denying the use of teargas by Berkut officers against demonstrators on Independence Day are false. Nor is this the only disturbing fact about the confrontation

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has initiated a criminal investigation over the events in the centre of Kyiv on Independence Day, after a court ban against theall protest rallies was implemented