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Ukrainian Protesters Block Central Bank Ukrainian President, in China, Monitors Unrest Back Home
(about 5 hours later)
KIEV, Ukraine — The demonstrators who have laid siege to public buildings in this rattled capital expanded their protest overnight, blockading the central bank on Wednesday and setting up tents and lighting bonfires on the sidewalk outside. KIEV, Ukraine — The bulletins started arriving from President Viktor F. Yanukovich’s news service at 6 a.m. Ukraine time on Wednesday — not with updates about the besieged public buildings or the occupation of Independence Square here by thousands of protesters — but with news of his visit to the Museum of Qin Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses in Xi’an, China.
Protest leaders had vowed to surround additional government buildings after the Ukrainian Parliament on Tuesday defeated a measure calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and his government. As widespread civic unrest continued for a fourth day with demonstrators clamoring for his resignation, Mr. Yanukovich proceeded with a long-planned state visit. He saw the collection of ancient artifacts, met with the government chairman in Shaanxi Province, toured a factory of the Chinese Aviation Industrial Corporation and flew on to Beijing for a business conference.
The failure of the no-confidence vote pushed the battle for the future of Ukraine back onto the streets, where protests began over the weekend. Demonstrators allied with opposition leaders said they would not relent until they succeed in removing the government, including President Viktor F. Yanukovich. In Kiev, the interior minister, Vitaly Zakharchenko, whom many here hold responsible for the violent and bloody crackdown on protesters by riot police early Saturday morning, issued a statement saying that he had given orders to the police banning “the use force against participants of peaceful gatherings that are taking place in the capital of Ukraine and other cities.”
But the protesters’ overnight goal of blockading the presidential administration building had not been accomplished by Wednesday morning. They did advance their sphere of control about 500 yards up a side street leading to Independence Square, which they have occupied, and erected a barricade near one entrance to the administration building. With Mr. Yanukovich largely ignoring their demands and the police standing down, protesters have encamped ever more deeply in Kiev City Hall and at least two other public buildings, and all across Independence Square. It seemed clear that the civic action that some are calling the “Euro Revolution” seemed to be shaping up as a contest of stamina and patience.
There, on a cold, overcast morning, a crowd waved flags and looked across around 100 yards of empty pavement at a dense line of riot police officers guarding the administration building. “It’s a war of attrition,” said Yuri Levchenko, an official with the nationalist Svoboda Party. “Whoever gives up first,” he said, “loses.”
The central bank seemed unprotected on the outside on Wednesday. Smoke from wood fires in drums drifted over the light blue neo-Classical style building, while men in jackets and stocking caps stood in front of the main doors. There were increasing signs that Mr. Yanukovich’s decision not to sign political and free trade accords with the European Union, under pressure from Russia, had put him in a politically untenable situation. It has undoubtedly raised sharp risks for his country, which faces a severe economic crisis and is in desperate need of a financial aid package of $17 billion or more.
Asked if the bank was open, one replied, “No, they’re redoing the books.” Another added, “They’ve gone to Bermuda to be with their money.” Ukrainian officials had been in discussions with the International Monetary Fund over an aid package, but ultimately said they were unwilling to carry out the painful austerity measures and other changes that had been set as conditions for help.
While it remains unclear how long the protest leaders can maintain enthusiasm as winter deepens, and their main goal of compelling Mr. Yanukovich to resign appears largely unrealistic, the momentum seems to be on their side for now. At some point, they may have no choice. The Ukrainian Central Bank was forced to intervene in currency markets on Wednesday to prop up the hryvnia.
Since the start of demonstrations on Nov. 22, many protesters, especially students, have been skeptical that elected officials will answer their demands, which were a response to Mr. Yanukovich’s decision not to sign far-reaching political and trade agreements with the European Union that had been in the works for years. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials have been looking to Russia and China as alternate sources of financing. Both countries have helped Ukraine in the past, but as the financial situation worsens it is not clear whether additional assistance will be forthcoming.
A smaller counterprotest by supporters of Mr. Yanukovich appeared in a park near Independence Square on Wednesday but drew far fewer people. A deputy prime minister of Ukraine, Yuri Boiko, traveled to Moscow on Wednesday, where he met with Prime Minister Dmitri A. Medvedev and a deputy prime minister, Igor Shuvalov. Russia has shown no tolerance for the sort of civil disobedience playing out in Kiev and Mr. Medvedev warned Mr. Boiko of the Kremlin’s aversion to instability.
Protesters planning to attend antigovernment rallies arrived overnight from western Ukraine. A few dozen dropped off bags at the headquarters of the Rukh political party, one of the many makeshift hotels for protesters, and were drinking tea there Wednesday morning. “You are having quite an active political season now,” Mr. Medvedev said, according to the Interfax news service. “Certainly, we are closely following what is going on in your country, but, undeniably, this is Ukraine’s internal affair. Although, certainly, it is very important to maintain stability and order in the country.”
One young man, Ivan Grem, said he had seen buses on the highway from western Ukraine overnight, ferrying people to the protest. This could not be independently confirmed. Western leaders, in recent days, have issued their own demands, warning Ukraine that relations would suffer badly if there was a repeat of the bloodshed Saturday when riot police violently dispersed some protesters.
Leaders of the protest movement, a loose coalition of the three main political opposition parties, civic organizations and student groups, said they were digging in for a long fight. The demonstrators have already blockaded the Cabinet Ministry and seized City Hall and two other buildings near the square. The statement by Mr. Zakharchenko, promising no further use of force, came amid intensified international criticism, from Western governments and human rights groups, over Saturday’s events, and as Kiev prepared to welcome a large group of foreign ministers for a meeting of the ministerial council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
In a development likely to further anger protesters, prosecutors in Kiev charged nine demonstrators with organizing mass unrest related to a violent confrontation between police officers and activists over the weekend. That conflict left many injured on both sides. Even before the outbreak of unrest, Secretary of State John Kerry had announced that he was canceling his plans to attend the conference, in part to send a signal over Mr. Yanukovich’s last-minute decision to back away from the agreements with the European Union. Mr. Kerry went instead to Moldova, which has signed a preliminary version of the accords.
In a speech to Parliament before Tuesday’s no-confidence vote, Mr. Azarov, the prime minister, once again apologized for the police role in the violence and said an investigation was underway that would hold those responsible accountable. But charging demonstrators, rather than officers, will hardly tamp down tempers. The German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, arrived in Kiev on Wednesday and met with opposition leaders in Independence Square, where they have established a tent city and a stage featuring a virtually round-the-clock parade of speeches and musical performances.
Mr. Azarov also warned that the authorities would answer any violence. “We will give you a hand,” Mr. Azarov said. “If we see a fist, we have enough force.” “It is clear that Ukraine is in the midst of huge internal discussions,” Mr. Westerwelle said in a statement released by the German government. “Here Europe must be active, because it is about Europe.”
Demonstrators continued to occupy City Hall and the Trade Unions building, and had also taken over the International Center for Culture and Art, where hundreds of protesters were sleeping in the corridors and volunteers were serving smoked fish sandwiches.
The nearby Cabinet Ministry building was still surrounded, in a bid to paralyze the government and protesters also sought to block the entrances of the Central Bank next door.