Oleh Levytsky, the lawyer defending Ihor Garkavenko calls the criminal case against his client political persecution. He believes the brazen disregard for procedural and legal norms suggests the case has been ordered from above to discredit the peaceful protest against the Tax Code

In an article entitled “Greetings from the Past”, Dementiy Bily reports on new and extremely worrying encroachments on civil liberties, with the actions by the police having no place in a democracy

The Kyiv Police assert that they did not initiate criminal proceedings after the mass protests in 2005-2007, as they have now against Tax Code protesters, because then they received no complaints from the municipal services

The author considers that the criminal cases are immoral

The Assembly of Small and Medium Level Business Civic Organizations of Ukraine has issued an appeal regarding repressive measures taken against those who took part in the mass protest on Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti against the new Tax Code

The publication of information that the Ministry of the Interior is planning a number of measures aimed at preventing coaches coming to the rallies planned for 17 and 22 January, and the Minister’s reaction

On 13 January one of the protesters against the new Tax Code, Roman Fedchuk, was summoned to the police where he was officially informed that a criminal case has been initiated.

The authorities are for the nth time shooting themselves in the foot, and seem incapable of grasping that methods of force against ones own people are doomed to crashing defeat.

According to one of the coordinators of the protest against the new Tax Code, on Tuesday evening a court remanded in custody three of the protesters on Maidan Nezalezhnosti [Independence Square] in Kyiv

The Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office sees no grounds for punishing the police officers who arrested human rights activists for taking part in a peaceful picket

The National Coordination Council of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs reported on Thursday that two participants in the protests against the new Tax Code had been detained by the police. The police claim they were taken for questioning as witnesses

The Kyiv Independent Media Trade Union has called on the owners of television channels to not turn their journalists into informers and not provide the police with video material about the Tax Cpde protest

The TV news channel “24” reports that it has received a request from the Police asking for all video material from the Tax Code Maidan (the mass protest against the draft Tax Code on Independence Square in Kyiv)

The Article of the Criminal Code being applied is over deliberate damage, and one of the protest’s organizers has been summoned for questioning

We declare our readiness to support reform in Ukraine and take responsibility for them. We are ready to pay higher taxes, but we must know everything about how the money is spent. We are ready to receive less social guarantees, but on condition that the authorities begin qualitative changes on themselves.

In Kyiv workers of the municipal services, with the support of the police, have removed the tent camp on Maidan Nezalezhnosti [Independence Square]. The tents had been there for two weeks in protest over the new Tax Code

According to the head of one group of protesters, Mykola Zaharchuk, traffic police have again been used this time near Kirovohrad to stop coaches with Tax Code protesters heading for Kyiv

The Ukrainian Catholic University stress that if the authorities can heed the view of the people and have the courage for the sake of public accord to back down over mistaken decisions, they will not be demonstrating weakness, but on the contrary, great spiritual strength.

The National Forum of Ukrainian Trade Unions asserts that the government is organizing public statements in support of the highly contentious Tax Code which has brought thousands out on to the street in Kyiv and other cities in protest

The District Administrative Court in Kyiv has now banned mass events in the centre from 27 November to 3 December