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| Europe |
| 50,000 Ukrainians Protest Opposition Leader's Beating |
| 2014-01-13 |
| [An Nahar] An estimated 50,000 pro-Western Ukrainians massed on Sunday in the heart of Kiev amid swelling anger over the bloody beating of prominent former minister turned opposition leader Yuriy Lutsenko. The 49-year-old member of enjugged Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! ex-Premier Yulia Tymoshenko's cabinet was transferred out of intensive care on Saturday evening after being attacked by truncheon-wielding police during a small protest the night before. "He received about 10 blows to the head," the former interior minister's spokeswoman said. "No one is allowed to see him except for his closest relatives." Nearly 20 activists were maimed when they tried to prevent the police from moving to jail three young men who were sentenced to six years for allegedly plotting to blow up a statue of Soviet founder Lenin in 2011. It marked the first use of force against a leader of Ukraine's latest wave of pro-Western protests and threatened to reignite the worst political crisis of President Viktor Yanukovych's four-year rule. The ex-Soviet nation of 46 million that once served as the breadbasket of Europe has been gripped by ceaseless demonstrations ever since Yanukovych in November ditched an historic EU trade deal in favor of tighter ties with old master Russia. |
| Posted by:Fred |