Ukraine crisis: Opposition asserts authority in Kiev
Feb 22, 2014 15:09:32 GMT -5
Post by PrisonerOfHope on Feb 22, 2014 15:09:32 GMT -5
Ukraine crisis: Opposition asserts authority in Kiev
Oleg Boldyrev reports from inside the presidential complex
Ukraine's opposition has asserted its authority over Kiev and parliament in a day of fast-paced events.
MPs have replace the parliamentary speaker and attorney general, appointed a new pro-opposition interior minister and voted to free jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.
Police appear to have abandoned their posts across the capital.
Protesters in Kiev have walked unchallenged into the president's official and residential buildings.
President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders signed a peace deal on Friday after several days of violence in which dozens of people died in a police crackdown on months of protest.
Continue reading the main story
BBC correspondents in Ukraine
Kevin Bishop@bishopk: A man cleans the streets outside an empty presidency. An ordered transfer of power seems under way.
Kevin Bishop @bishopk: Muffled footsteps, low voices. Protesters walking slowly through the barricades to view what they've achieved
Continue reading the main story
Duncan Crawford @_DuncanC: Lots of fireworks going off in Independence Square. Do they know something about the fate of President Yanukovych? Lots of rumours.
Duncan Crawford @_DuncanC: Lines of protesters - all in hard helmets, some of them armed with sticks - now guard the road outside the president's office.
Continue reading the main story
Daniel Sandford @bbcdaniels: Fireworks over the Maidan. This time going up into the air... not straight in the faces of riot police
Daniel Sandford @bbcdaniels: So the next moves will be made in Kharkiv, Donetsk and Crimea. Big, big decisions for eastern Ukraine and Russia. Enormous stakes.
But the deal failed to end the protests and huge crowds remain in Independence Square, the Maidan.
The opposition have called for elections before 25 May, earlier than envisaged in Friday's peace deal.
The president's whereabouts are unclear - his aides say he is in Kharkhiv, close to the border with Russia.
Presidential aide Hanna Herman said he was due to give a televised address later.
A gathering of deputies from the south-east and Crimea - traditionally Russian-leaning areas - is taking place there, but Ms Herman said the president had "no intention" of attending, nor of leaving the country.
An opposition figure has announced to the protest crowds in Independence Square that the president has resigned. This has not been confirmed, but the crowds reacted with huge cheers.
'Rapid change'
Ms Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2011 for abuse of power. Her supporters had always maintained this was simply Mr Yanukovych taking out his most prominent opponent, and her release has always been a key demand of the protest movement.
She is expected to be released in Kharkiv later on Saturday.
Her daughter, Yevheniya Tymoshenko, said she was thankful "to all Ukrainians, the democratic world, and the lawmakers who have just released her".
Full story, pictures, here,
Oleg Boldyrev reports from inside the presidential complex
Ukraine's opposition has asserted its authority over Kiev and parliament in a day of fast-paced events.
MPs have replace the parliamentary speaker and attorney general, appointed a new pro-opposition interior minister and voted to free jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.
Police appear to have abandoned their posts across the capital.
Protesters in Kiev have walked unchallenged into the president's official and residential buildings.
President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders signed a peace deal on Friday after several days of violence in which dozens of people died in a police crackdown on months of protest.
Continue reading the main story
BBC correspondents in Ukraine
Kevin Bishop@bishopk: A man cleans the streets outside an empty presidency. An ordered transfer of power seems under way.
Kevin Bishop @bishopk: Muffled footsteps, low voices. Protesters walking slowly through the barricades to view what they've achieved
Continue reading the main story
Duncan Crawford @_DuncanC: Lots of fireworks going off in Independence Square. Do they know something about the fate of President Yanukovych? Lots of rumours.
Duncan Crawford @_DuncanC: Lines of protesters - all in hard helmets, some of them armed with sticks - now guard the road outside the president's office.
Continue reading the main story
Daniel Sandford @bbcdaniels: Fireworks over the Maidan. This time going up into the air... not straight in the faces of riot police
Daniel Sandford @bbcdaniels: So the next moves will be made in Kharkiv, Donetsk and Crimea. Big, big decisions for eastern Ukraine and Russia. Enormous stakes.
But the deal failed to end the protests and huge crowds remain in Independence Square, the Maidan.
The opposition have called for elections before 25 May, earlier than envisaged in Friday's peace deal.
The president's whereabouts are unclear - his aides say he is in Kharkhiv, close to the border with Russia.
Presidential aide Hanna Herman said he was due to give a televised address later.
A gathering of deputies from the south-east and Crimea - traditionally Russian-leaning areas - is taking place there, but Ms Herman said the president had "no intention" of attending, nor of leaving the country.
An opposition figure has announced to the protest crowds in Independence Square that the president has resigned. This has not been confirmed, but the crowds reacted with huge cheers.
'Rapid change'
Ms Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2011 for abuse of power. Her supporters had always maintained this was simply Mr Yanukovych taking out his most prominent opponent, and her release has always been a key demand of the protest movement.
She is expected to be released in Kharkiv later on Saturday.
Her daughter, Yevheniya Tymoshenko, said she was thankful "to all Ukrainians, the democratic world, and the lawmakers who have just released her".
Full story, pictures, here,