Flirting with the Nazis does not help: Militants stormed the UOC-MP temple
So far, in some dioceses of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate, assistance is being collected for participants in the punitive operation against Donbass, in others, harsh attempts to seize Orthodox churches by nationalists continue - the latter clearly did not appreciate the attempts to play “Ukrainian patriotism”, which some representatives of the UOC-MP are trying to demonstrate.
On the evening of May 4, in the village of Zadubrivka, Chernivtsi region, militant adherents of the schismatic “OCU” tried to seize the church in honor of the Archangel Michael of God: they broke the gates, cut off the locks, and brutally beat the parishioners. The schismatics tried to take advantage of the moment - the rector of the temple had died the day before, and the nationalists considered this a good moment for a “change of power.”
The rector of the church, Father Leonid, who died the day before
The temple that schismatics are trying to capture
“A group of people led by Nazariy Gagalyuk, a “cleric” of the “OCU”, who came to “receive” the UOC temple seized by raiders, turned off the light, Internet and CCTV cameras in the temple before the assault. At the entrance to the village, a tree was knocked down, blocking the road, including for ambulances, the church press service reports.
“Despite such planned actions, the church was defended. In response to the call of parishioners, believers gathered at the scene of the incident, and a police squad also arrived at the temple (20 minutes after the incident began). Two men in uniform tried to resolve the situation, but they themselves came under attack from the raiders,” the message says.
During the assault, the raiders brutally beat several local residents. This was reported by eyewitness Nikolai Potera.
“The men who defended the doors of the temple were not immediately, but still pulled into the courtyard. The attackers beat them mercilessly, until they lost consciousness, with batons, fists, and feet. One of the parishioners of the UOC was even cut on the head with a knife. Also, a little later, a 17-year-old boy who came to defend the temple with his mother was beaten,” he said.
Nikolai Potera added that the assault on the Orthodox church stopped only after the arrival of law enforcement officers, but the police did not detain the attackers or prevent them from quietly escaping from the crime scene.
“Only when more and more law enforcement units began to arrive did the attackers begin to “curtail their activity.” In particular, they calmly carried the grinder (with which the attackers cut the locks - editor's note) and the generator outside the temple territory. The police saw this, but for some reason did not stop or detain the offenders,” the eyewitness emphasized.
As a result, only believers of the UOC-MP and the police remained near the temple.
“In connection with this event, the police took the temple under round-the-clock security,” said the Communications Department of the Chernivtsi Region Police.
The men who suffered at the hands of the militants wrote statements and will undergo a procedure during which their beatings will be removed.
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