20 Policemen Injured in Environmental Protest in Odessa

Protesters at the abandoned Summer Theater in Odessa. Photo by Timer-Odessa.net

Ukraine Day 1370: LIVE UPDATES BELOW. More than 20 policemen were injured in a brawl at an environmental protest in Odessa.

Yesterday’s coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here.

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2017-11-20 21:11:57

mass brawl took place in Odessa during an environmental protest of about 200 people, in which explosives and smoke bombs were used and more than 20 police injured, Dumskaya.net and Timer-Odessa.net reported.

Igor Kovalenko, said that the building planned would not have a lot of stories, but couldn’t say how many stories it would have.

Fighting broke out after some protesters tried to break a surveillance camera installed the previous day.

Dmitry Golovin, head of the Odessa Police attempted to quell the demonstrators but some of them began pushing him and he suffered a head injury.

Some 20 other policemen suffered skull trauma, concussions, bruises, cuts, and chemical burns of skin, lungs, and eyes. No demonstrators were hurt.

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2017-11-20 21:04:58

The demonstrators were protesting the chopping down of trees at the abandoned Summer Theater in Odessa after a new land owner decided to clear them.

Timer-Odessa.net reported that even before the demonstration, police and National Guard vans headed to the area and blocked it.

Governor Maksim Stepanov has opened an investigation of the legality of the decision to chop down the trees on an area that he said had “historical value”.

He said that when the Odessa city council made such decisions, they should take into consideration the wishes of people in the city. He noted that protests of this sort had occurred at another location slated for development.

Protesters brought gates broken off at the Summer Theater to the mayor’s building, marked with a wolfsangel, indicating that some of them may be related to ultra-rightist groups.

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2017-11-20 21:07:15

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2017-11-20 21:07:09

In an unrelated incident, on November 17, activists disrupted a concert at the Ukrainian Theater of Russian actor Konstantin Raykin, artistic director of the Satiricon Theater. A dozen protesters burst into the hall shouting, “Whose Crimea?”. The event was cancelled.

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick

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