On Friday, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv adopted a decision restricting the right to hold peaceful assemblies of citizens and pedestrian marches on May 1, which, in effect, means a ban on the rally on European Square initiated by Viktor Yushchenko's bloc "Our Ukraine".
This rally was to take place as part of the protest marathon "Yes to Well-Being! No to Dictatorship!", according to the press service of "Our Ukraine".
The event was planned to involve about 100,000 citizens. According to the press service, the holding of the action was reported to Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko as early as April 5 by the Central Headquarters of "Our Ukraine".
By the same court decision, peaceful assemblies of citizens and the passage of columns on May 1 from Arsenalna, Bessarabska, Mykhailivska, and Poshtova Squares to European Square were banned, where at 8 a.m. the protest marathon was to start, whose main demand is the government's return of 10 billion hryvnias hidden in the budget and directing them to the social needs of citizens.
The first stage of this marathon took place on March 31 outside the walls of the Cabinet of Ministers. More than 15,000 citizens took part in it. Recall that "Our Ukraine" announced an indefinite protest marathon until the government returns 10 billion to citizens.
The court reports that it adopted such a decision "in order to prevent unrest and crimes, to protect public health, to protect the rights and freedoms of people, in the interests of national security and public order."
Therefore, on Friday morning "Our Ukraine" announced a decision to change the configuration of the action that the bloc is to hold on Saturday, May 1. Instead of the protest action planned earlier, the bloc will organize karaoke in the center of Kyiv.
This was stated at a staff meeting at the Kyiv City Administration on Friday by a representative of the bloc, People's Deputy Volodymyr Bondarenko.
He said that on April 28 the headquarters of "Our Ukraine" adopted a decision "on changing the configuration" of the action that the bloc will hold in Kyiv.
The deputy noted that this decision concerns only the capital, since "Our Ukraine" does not want clashes between politicians and political forces to occur in the center of Kyiv.
"This will be a festive action — karaoke of Ukrainian songs on Independence Square, which will take place from 10 to 15 o'clock with the involvement of youth organizations of the bloc," Bondarenko said.
He emphasized that this will be an action "without any confrontation with other political forces" and "without protest slogans."
"This will be such an ordinary 'May Day gathering,' and we will deal with the problem of attitudes toward the authorities somewhat later," he added.
Earlier, "Our Ukraine" had planned to hold an all-Ukrainian protest action on May 1 as part of the marathon under the name "Yes to Well-Being! No to Dictatorship!".