Demonstrators defending Kharkiv park’s trees assaulted

It was reported on Thursday afternoon that around 30 individuals in the orange jackets worn by road workers fell upon the participants in a protest against the felling of trees in Kharkiv’s Gorky Park. They demanded that the protesters who had created a cordon move in order to let the excavator on to park territory.

The excavator apparently began moving at people while the assailants lashed out at the protesters.

Lawyer Yevhen Solovyov was hospitalized as a result.

The attack lasted around 30 minutes, after which police officers, called by the demonstrators, appeared, stopped the aggression, and began documenting the incident.

The aggressors did not succeed in dislodging the cordon and letting the excavator in.

The environmental NGO “Pechenihy” had previously reported that two of the activists had been hospitalized during the action to prevent the excavator.

On 19 May the Executive Committee of the Kharkiv City Council adopted a decision to build a road for which they permitted the felling of 503 trees in Gorky Park. The felling began the next day. The protests began soon after and are continuing.

From a report at: http://tsn.ua/ukrayina/na-uchasnikiv-akciyi-proti-virubki-derev-v-harkovi-napali-30-nevidomih.html