They
gather in a circle and start singing the Ukrainian national anthem on St. Michael’s Square, on the site of the holy
cathedral originally built in 1108 and then rebuilt after Soviets destroyed it.
These
are mostly young people, many with blue-and-yellow ribbons attached to their dirty
clothes. Some have bandages on their heads and hands; others limp.
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They
sing the anthem every hour, it’s been a tradition at EuroMaidan almost since
the start of the pro-European integration demonstrations on Nov. 21.
And
even though there is now no EuroMaidan – or at least it has changed locations
— they still sing the anthem, only now in St. Michael’s Cathedral. The only
safe place they could find in Ukraine’s capital early in the morning.
Police
violently broke up the EuroMaidan rally
at 4 a.m. on Nov. 30.
More
than 700 people were staying overnight at Kyiv’s main square Maidan
Nezalezhnosti, mostly students, guarding the epicenter for street protests
that started in Ukraine on Nov. 21 in opposition to the government’s decision
to suspend Ukraine’s European Union integration.
Many
protesters got serious injuries: broken hands and legs, concussions and wounds.
Some people went missing.
“And
there were more than 4,000 riot police officers,” says Oleksandr Ananich, a 17-year-old
student from Lviv.
He
volunteered to be a guard at the EuroMaidan rally. And he was a guard, before
getting beaten by police. “We were standing there as close to the monument as
possible, holding hands and they were dragging us out, throwing on that window
under the monument and beating. All of us. Grannies, girls, guys…all,” he
says repeating the story again and again to all who come.
He
stands in a corner of St. Michael’s Cathedral yard, drinking tea and eating a
simple sandwich – bread and sausage. His hand is trembling.
“Running
away we ran up from Kreshchatyk Square, trying to stay away from the big
streets. People were saying that the police are chasing us to beat us to death
or whatever, later we got back to St. Michael’s Square and met another group.
There were 70 of us and we thought we need a big place to hide,” says Ihor
Zelenyi, another overnight EuroMaidan protester. “We knocked on the cathedral’s
gate and they let us in, then we started calling politicians and journalists.”
There
are 14 people registered in Kyiv hospital #17, 13 of them received medical
help, the 14th was hospitalized with concussion, says Oleksandra Kuzhil, a
member of parliament. But this is not official information, she says.
Kuzhil
wears a warm hat and what looks like an old coat and constantly answers the
questions and gives people the phone numbers of hospitals so they could check
on their friends and relatives, that they can’t contact.
“The
mobile connection was suppressed at Maidan, you know that right, so your
friends might be around here, just with dead phones, calm down,” she says to a
group of young people who just ran into the St. Michael’s Cathedral yard. “And
please go warm up inside the church.”
There are
several dozen people inside the main church building. Two young man and a woman
stand on their knees and pray. A woman cries. Some light up the candles. The
others stand in the corners and discuss the events. A priest comes to a group
who got too loud. “Please be quiet in the church,” he says. “You can be here
for as long as needed, but please behave.”
A
young woman comes in the church and whispers that more food came.
People
arrive to St. Michael’s Cathedral all the time, bring food and warm clothes. “I
made pancakes, were do I put them? They are still hot! Get them, kids,” says a
middle-aged woman in a fur coat and a yellow hat. “I woke up in the morning and
just couldn’t believe, just couldn’t,” she says and starts crying. “How did
they dare to do that to our children,” she says, getting angry. Her name is
Valentyna Bilan. She’s been spending every night at EuroMaidan starting Nov.
24.
By
noon people no longer fit the yard. Several hundred gather outside. The
activists get a loudspeaker and call on people to come out. The
cathedral’s yard is getting overwhelmed with journalists, mostly foreign
though. Almost no Ukrainian TV channels are on the scene.
“Now
I am ready for everything,” says Pavlo Shchebrya from Kyiv to journalists who
gathered around him in a circle. His head is still bleeding through the
bandage. “Even for a weapon fight,” he adds.
And
he is not the only one.
By
1 p.m., there are several thousand at St. Michael’s Square.
“We
won’t forgive them what happened tonight. Never,” says Liudmyla Sivukhina.
She wears high heels, a purple fur coat, heavy makeup and big anger.
“Kyiv, wake up! Ukraine, Wake up,” she starts
shouting together with the crowd and runs up closer to the improvised stage.
The echo at the square picks up the sound, the
cars passing by beep in support, some stop and the drivers join the rally.
“Ukraine, wake up!” people shout.
And Ukraine did.
As of 8 p.m., the rally at St. Michael’s
Cathedral was not winding out. There are more than 10,000 people by unofficial
estimates. And they keep coming and going.
Kyiv Post staff writer Daryna Shevchenko can be reached at [email protected]
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