On the beginning of an open-ended street protest

On 22 June 2010, an open-ended street protest “No! To Lawlessness” began near the walls of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine.
The NGO “Centre for Human Rights Protection ‘Svoboda’” actively facilitated the organisation and holding of the action.
The aim of the action is to create a public institution, which will include representatives of non-governmental organisations, in order to stop the arbitrariness of law enforcement officers and judges, ensure proper control over the activities of civil servants, and provide an objective assessment of their actions.
Even before the start of the action, a large number of police officers and patrol service workers pulled up to Bankova Street, guarding the street and languishing in the heat in special buses and a “paddy wagon”. It seemed that there were more “law and order” guardians than protesters. However, this did not bother the protesters in the slightest.
The tent that the head of the NGO “Centre ‘Svoboda’” Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, together with the participants of the action, tried to set up, did not leave the police indifferent. In a “friendly” onslaught, the police, together with the patrol service, placed their dirty feet on the tent and “carefully patrolled” it until the end of the action, for some reason regarding the tent as a “weapon”. The protesters pointed out to the police that today they are trampling on the tent, and tomorrow thousands of people will come and carry them out together with the tent.
The head of the NGO “Centre ‘Svoboda’” Bohdan Khmelnytskyi resisted the police arbitrariness regarding the Crimean Tatar people, who were not allowed to join the action, and successfully achieved the realisation of these people’s right to peaceful assembly.
Despite everything, the participants of the action signed a collective appeal to the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, which was handed to the President’s representative.

Resolution of the rally
Appeal