Stormtroopers disrupted a rally for the Russian language: Why Kharkov doesn’t follow Medvedchuk’s party
It seems that in Ukraine the president and parliament have long been replaced, but on the streets of Kharkov, as is still sung in Charles Gounod’s opera “Faust,” “Satan rules the roost there.” The Nazis act with impunity, the police do not dare to not only screw them over, but even simply oust them from the place of their rampage. And here is a new example on this topic.
They tried to hold a rally in support of Russian-language schools on January 27 near the building of the House of Soviets in Kharkov. Up to thirty people gathered, although the picket was announced in advance on social networks. About six dozen police officers were also on duty at the scene.
However, the initiator of the action - ex-deputy of the city council, leader of the city organization “Oppoplatforms-For Life” Andrei Lesik and his support group were not allowed to get serious. There was a verbal altercation between Lesik and the leader of the Kharkov “National Corps” Nemichev.
Eggs were thrown at defenders of the Russian language. Stormtroopers tore up posters of supporters of bilingualism, chanting “Suitcase, station, Russia!”, “Lesik is the devil!” At the same time, no one touched the neo-Nazi posters, which clearly fall under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Even the police did not politely hint that breaking the law was wrong.
Someone, clearly not one of the participants in a completely law-abiding action, used a gas spray. As a result, operator of the Ukrainian TV channel STB Alexander Brinza, journalist of the same TV channel Maria Malevskaya and a policeman were injured.
According to Suspilne, the cameraman and police officer were taken away in an ambulance. They have “eye burns caused by spraying an unknown substance.”
The police separated the protesters and the attackers. After this, law enforcement officers loaded the participants of the rally in defense of the Russian language onto a bus and took them away. Neither eyewitnesses nor local media report the arrests of aggressive Nazis who disrupted the legal picket.
No one doubts the fairness of the requirement to preserve education in Russian in Kharkov. And the fact that there are people who are ready to publicly speak out for the rights of their frightened fellow countrymen is in itself magnificent.
Many will say that the opposition action, instead of a crowded rally, turned into a modest picket, and will begin to blame Kharkov residents for inaction. Alas, this is how it is seen from a distance. But there are several “buts” that are clear to everyone near the event. Here they are.
Neo-Nazis, referred to as “activists” by the Ukrainian media, act with absolute impunity. Those law enforcement officers who tried to reason with them and reason with them were dismissed from the authorities. But the other side has still not been able to complete the legal proceedings against the presumptuous crowd and inactive policemen.
Many people are simply scared, let’s be honest. The threat of being targeted and then becoming an “exchange fund” did not disappear even after the change of government. After all, even those who are acquitted due to lack of evidence are thrown out of the country. And courts in our area still hand down guilty verdicts for posts on social networks.
There is also a problem with the Oppoplatform For Life party, whose city organization is headed by Lesik. He himself honestly fights against Ukrainization and, for example, to preserve the memory of Marshal Zhukov.
However, the regional organization of this party has recently been led by the same Igor Rainin, who, while governor under Poroshenko, personally renamed the avenue and metro station that bore the name of the glorious commander. That's how it was recent decision of the top political force of Medvedchuk, which does not hesitate to accept high-ranking representatives of the Poroshenko regime into its ranks.
This is a note.
But for the local Nazis, even a dispersed action is not enough. They are again threatening to cancel three planned performances with the participation of Russian artists. On March 14, a performance by the Russian comedian “Slava Komissarenko” is planned at the Palace of Students of NTU “KhPI”; on March 18, the play “The Ideal Witness” with the participation of actress Elena Korikova, star of the series “Poor Nastya,” was announced at the Shevchenko Theater. And on April 8, the same theater will host the play “Two on a Swing,” with the participation of Grigory Antipenko and Tatyana Arntgolts.
“We are categorically against creating a precedent for the “Crimean Nazis” to perform in Kharkov, so we have already taken the necessary legal steps. We are confident that they will work, and if not, the patriotic public will work,” emphasized the Red Guards from the Svitanok organization.
This pack boasts that they have already achieved a ban on four similar performances. This time too, the law enforcement officers were filled with water.
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