foto Andrew Mamaliga

In the latest sign of rising social discontent, thousands of demonstrators stormed parliament this week and came surprisingly close to actually breaking in.

The tension came n Sept. 20 during a protest outside of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada organized by Afghan war veterans and rescue wor---kers from the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.

Venting their frustration over plans by lawmakers to cancel subsidies for these struggling groups, the protesters broke past police squads and nearly made their way into parliament. They clashed with law enforcement and managed to reach parliament’s doors, before ultimately being pushed back.

The incident clearly rattled pro-presidential lawmakers, who immediately put off legislation that would have cut into longstanding subsidies for millions of veterans, teachers, doctors, pensioners and police.


Some of the 1,000 or so Ukrainian veterans of the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979-1989) and Chornobyl catastrophe liquidators shout in front of the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv on Sept. 20 during a protest against the adoption in parliament of a bill abolishing their social benefits. (AFP).

It was the most recent in a flurry of incidents in which Ukraine’s poorer citizens have fumed with disapproval with hard economic realities and the policies of President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration.

The tense standoff took many in Ukraine by surprise, and could yet inject fresh energy into a divided opposition movement that accuses Yanukovych of setting Ukraine on a path towards authoritarianism and kleptocracy.

“Protests are possible whey they (the government) hit people’s pockets,” said sociologist Iryna Bekeshkina, commenting on the social protest.
Ukraine’s government is struggling to cut a budget deficit in order to secure a much-needed fresh disbursement of billion-dollar loans from the International Monetary Fund.

But some, such as lawmaker Serhiy Sobolev from the bloc of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, criticized plans to put the burden of cuts on millions of cash-strapped citizens that are on the verge of poverty.

Rather, he said, government should combat corruption, such as murky privatization dealings that rob budget coffers for the personal gain of billionaire oligarchs that back the nation’s leadership.

“It does not suit for parliament to be seeking to save kopecks” from the poorest echelons of society “while billions are passing by to oligarchs,” Sobolev said.

Oleksandr Yefremov, head of the pro-presidential Regions Party faction which dominates parliament could not clarify how much in subsidy cuts were planned and the number of citizens that would be affected.

“Millions would be affected, if not more,” Yefremov said, responding to Kyiv Post questions. “In total, all existing subsidies – are about half the nation’s Hr 400 billion budget.”
Citizens that took part in the Sept. 20 protest said that the issue is a matter of survival for them.

Serhiy Khraptovych, head of the Chornobyl Union of Ukraine organization and a rescue worker at the Chornobyl nuclear plant in 1987, was among the protesters who tried to storm the parliament.

“People stormed the parliament because patience is running out,” Khraptovych said. “If the law is adopted, those affected will lose more than 50 percent of their pensions and compensations on utility bills and public transportation.”


Three broken windows remain after the Sept. 20 protest of Ukrainian veterans of the Soviet war in Afghanistan and Chornobyl nuclear power plant workers. (Yaroslav Debelyi).

For many citizens living on several hundred dollars a month or less, such subsidies are the difference between living on the edge and poverty.
Much is also at stake for Yanukovych, who has seen his popularity plunge during his first year and a half in office.

An April Kyiv-based Razumkov Center poll showed that Yanukovych’s rating reached an all-time low of 11 percent, down from 41 percent a year ago. According to another recent poll conducted by GfK market research firm, his approval rating dropped to 13.4 percent in June from 16.1 percent in May.

Dissatisfaction with all politicians appears to be running high. The same poll showed that ex-Prime Minister Tymoshenko support fell by 2 percent reaching to 9.6 percent in June.

In a July poll conducted by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and released in September, more than half of the respondents said the country is moving in the wrong direction.

More than half named inflation, poverty and unemployment among the country’s most serious problems and 87 percent of people expressed dissatisfaction with the economic situation.

Yet, unlike public protests under opposition party banners which took place after Tymoshenko’s arrest on Aug. 5 and on Independence Day on Aug. 24, the recent non-political protests seem to have shaken up government officials more.

Sergiy Tigipko, vice prime minister for social affairs, promised protestors that the controversial draft legislation would be put on hold until a compromise is reached on the issue.

Sociologists said that the protest was successful because those that showed up in mass, namely war veterans, were organized, strong willed and eager to flex their muscle. Such might and determination is rarely demonstrated by others that are to be affected by a cut in subsidies, namely teachers, doctors and pensioners.


Protesters in the Sept. 20 demonstration of Ukrainian veterans of the Soviet war in Afghanistan and Chornobyl nuclear power plant broke through iron fences meant to protect lawmakers. (Yaroslav Debelyi).

 Just as with the tax protests from the autumn of 2010, the Sept. 20 standoff appears to have taken government by surprise.
Bekeshkina said government technocrats rarely “look at how their policies will affect the people.”

More tough decisions are ahead for Ukraine’s leadership. In return for billions of dollars in fresh bailout loans, the IMF is also demanding authorities further increase utility prices for households towards market levels.

If subsidies are cut and utility prices hiked, sociologists say the prospect of bigger protests breaking out is very likely.

“I think that this protest will inspire others to protest,” Bekeshkina added.

Khraptovych promised bigger protests if government and parliament failed to meet their demands.

Will crowd sizes get as big as during the Orange Revolution, enough to challenge Yanukovych’s grip on power?

Not likely, according to Bekeshkina, unless a major economic crash takes place such as a slide in the currency or sharper inflation spike.

Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv

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