Language Law Protesters vow to continue hunger strike to the end

  On Monday 16 July the protesters holding a hunger strike outside Ukrainsky Dim in Kyiv issued a statement saying that their protest will continue until the controversial language bill is cancelled.

In their address to the People of Ukraine, the President, Verkhovna Rada and members of all civic organizations and political parties, they state:

“"We greet all fellow citizens on this historic day marking the proclamation of the Declaration of Ukraine’s State Sovereignty and make our own statement.

We are sincerely grateful to all our relatives, the clergy of all confessions, intellectuals, the Committee for the Defence of the Ukrainian Language; members of political parties and all people of good will for approaching us out of concern for our health with requests to stop our hunger strike.

Our position is final, conscious and irrevocable. We will stay here to protect the Ukrainian language, freedom of speech and human rights with our main demand being the cancellation of the draft Law on the Principles of State Language Policy.

Our initiative is aimed at integral state formation.

Like-minded people are coming to us in answer to the call of their own conscience and heart. So, we will stay here until our victory.

We call on all concerned people to join us.

We invite all civic organizations and political forces to sit with us on the steps of Ukrainsky Dim but without any symbols of the civic organizations and parties in order to uphold our shared position.

The statement is signed by the Head of the Hunger Strike Committee (who also read it out) Oksana Nezhyvenko and the Secretary – Oleh Veremiyenko.