Brussels, 26/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - The chairman of the committee on foreign affairs at the European Parliament, Elmar Brok (EPP, Germany), and the rapporteur on the Eastern Partnership, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (EPP, Poland), called on the Ukrainian authorities on 26 November to refrain from using force against peaceful protestors demonstrating against the Ukrainian government's decision not to sign the association agreement with the EU. “Otherwise, serious consequences will have to be drawn”, they warned.
“We express our strongest support to the many thousands of Ukrainians who are gathering at Euromaidan Square in the freezing cold in Kiev and in other cities across Ukraine. These peaceful protestors are voicing their strong opposition to the decision not to sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, a decision that deprives them of their European future”, the two MEPs explained. They underlined: “We believe that Ukraine has a legitimate right to make its European choice. The door for the Ukrainian people remains open”.
Violent incidents broke out on 24 November on the sidelines of a demonstration in which participants sought to gain entry to the seat of the Ukrainian government before being pushed back by the police armed with tear gas. (CG/transl.jl)