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Lenin statue toppled as 500,000 protest government on streets of Ukraine
National Post [Canada] / AP ^ | December 8, 2013 | Jim Heintz And Yuras Karmanau

Posted on 12/08/2013 9:51:50 PM PST by canuck_conservative

...Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians flooded the centre of Kyiv, the capital, to demand President Viktor Yanukovych’s ouster after he ditched ties with the European Union in favour of Russia and sent police to break up an earlier protest in the nearly three-week standoff.

“Ukraine is tired of Yanukovych. We need new rules. We need to completely change those in power,” said protester Kostyantyn Meselyuk, 42. “Europe can help us.”

Packing Independence Square as far as the eye could see, Ukrainians waving EU flags sang the national anthem and shouted “Resignation!” and “Down with the gang!” in a reference to Yanukovych’s regime.

“I am convinced that after these events, dictatorship will never survive in our country,” world boxing champion and top opposition leader Vitali Klitschko told reporters. “People will not tolerate when they are beaten, when their mouths are shut, when their principles and values are ignored.”

As darkness fell, the conflict escalated further with protesters blockading key government buildings in Kyiv with cars, barricades and tents.

The protests have had an anti-Russian component because Russia had worked aggressively to derail the EU deal with threats of trade retaliation against Ukraine.

About one kilometre from the main square, one group of anti-government protesters toppled the city’s landmark statue of Lenin and decapitated it Sunday evening.

Protesters then took turns beating on the torso of the fallen statue, while others lined up to collect a piece of the stone. The crowd chanted “Glory to Ukraine!”....

The protest Sunday in sub-zero December temperatures took place on Independence Square, known as the Maidan, in an echo of the Orange Revolution. Those protests annulled Yanukovych’s fraud-tainted presidential victory in 2004, and ushered his pro-Western opponents into power. Yanukovych returned to the presidency in the 2010 vote.....

(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: lenin; protest; russia; ukraine
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This is more than your average protest, it would appear.
1 posted on 12/08/2013 9:51:51 PM PST by canuck_conservative
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To: canuck_conservative



2 posted on 12/08/2013 9:53:30 PM PST by canuck_conservative
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To: canuck_conservative

Sigh. Too many are spineless in this country to do anything similar.


3 posted on 12/08/2013 9:53:44 PM PST by CatOwner
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To: canuck_conservative

At least Lenin’s statue in Seattle is safe.


4 posted on 12/08/2013 10:00:17 PM PST by SeaHawkFan
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To: CatOwner; no-to-illegals; All

I wonder if they were demonstrating in sub zero f or C. Sub zero f is much colder.


5 posted on 12/08/2013 10:01:23 PM PST by gleeaikin
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To: CatOwner

Premier Obumbo, no doubt, would love for the USA to become the USSA and make him premier for life.


6 posted on 12/08/2013 10:01:53 PM PST by AlexW
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To: canuck_conservative
Ukraine is tired of Yanukovych.

Weird Al can get on your nerves.

7 posted on 12/08/2013 10:10:04 PM PST by MUDDOG
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To: canuck_conservative

Klitcho got like 10% in the last election. He can’t win with votes so this is how he is doing it.

Ukraine may very well get split in two, or go the way of Yugoslavia. The EU folks have little support in the East of the country.


8 posted on 12/08/2013 10:17:53 PM PST by sunrise_sunset
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To: SeaHawkFan
At least Lenin’s statue in Seattle is safe.

Sickening.

9 posted on 12/08/2013 10:20:51 PM PST by TChad (Obamacare's motto: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori)
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To: SeaHawkFan

Beat me to it!


10 posted on 12/08/2013 10:24:59 PM PST by D Rider
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To: TChad

Seems to be a dynamic statue, for such a short homosexual. Then again, his class rarely dined on their own folks.


11 posted on 12/08/2013 10:30:36 PM PST by RedHeeler
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To: canuck_conservative

Is this getting any coverage in the MSM? Because I read elsewhere that Iceland threw out their whole gov’t, is writing a new constitution, and our media basically has a blackout on that story.


12 posted on 12/08/2013 10:32:48 PM PST by jocon307
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To: RedHeeler

“Seems to be a dynamic statue...”

Excellent description, it also looks HUGE, although I suppose the photo could be misleading.

Hey, content aside, it’s a heck of a lot better than that ugly bunch of bricks we just paid a million bucks for, to display at our embassy in the UK.


13 posted on 12/08/2013 10:36:10 PM PST by jocon307
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To: jocon307

Dang Mi. They outta take a rope, and hang me. High from the highest tree...


14 posted on 12/08/2013 10:49:24 PM PST by RedHeeler
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To: CatOwner

No they’re not.


15 posted on 12/08/2013 11:05:58 PM PST by Irenic (The pencil sharpener and Elmer's glue is put away-- we've lost the red wheel barrow)
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To: gleeaikin

Not always.

Minus 40 degrees F = minus 40 degrees C.


16 posted on 12/08/2013 11:08:48 PM PST by 353FMG
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To: canuck_conservative

The Ukrainians are seriously pissed off. That statue stood just off of Kreschatik Street the Main Street of old Kiev

Yanukovich is a convicted criminal and a Russian toady. He is out of date. Ukraine has regained it religion and it voice

Could be a Ceaucesu moment on the way


17 posted on 12/09/2013 12:16:56 AM PST by Jimmy Valentine (DemocRATS - when they speak, they lie; when they are silent, they are stealing the American Dream)
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To: Jimmy Valentine

They surely can’t have loved Lenin anyhow. Seems that this is kicking a dead dog. Surprised the statue didn’t go away long ago. If I were them I would have had it melted down and recast as something constructively meaningful in a Ukraine context.


18 posted on 12/09/2013 12:30:12 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (The Lion of Judah will roar again if you give him a big hug and a cheer and mean it. See my page.)
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To: SeaHawkFan

A great place to deposit used beer....


19 posted on 12/09/2013 12:52:20 AM PST by Kozak ("Send them back your fierce defiance! Stamp upon the cursed alliance! To arms, to arms in Dixie!)
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To: canuck_conservative
Lenin shoots a basket:

Lenin Shoots A Basket photo LeninShootsABasket_zps6444b6c8.jpg

20 posted on 12/09/2013 2:12:49 AM PST by preacher (I am not a global warming hoax denier.)
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