Left Wing Student Union Activist in Ukraine Attacked by Far-Right Again: Second Attack in Just One Month
Submitted by Редакция on 19 September, 2013 - 02:41
On September 11, another activist of left wing student union “Direct Action” was attacked by a fascist paramilitary group with their faces covered. The attack happened in a public place in the city centre, near the subway station. The activist was not robbed, and the attack was video recorded by the offenders. The activist fainted and the passerby witnessed the attack called the ambulance and the police. Pavlo Myronov is in the hospital with a brain concussion and partial memory loss.
This is the second attack of this kind in a month. On August 22, two neo-nazi with their faces covered attacked another activist, Bohdan Biletsky, who was also hospitalized with head concussion and was just released from hospital three days before the next attack.
Attacks like these have been happening rather frequentely lately. In several cases the attackers were recognized as either members of far right party Svoboda or associated with it. On 8 June 2012, journalist Georgiy Erman was surrounded by several nationalists who threatened to beat him if he refuses to shout nationalistic slogans for a camera. On 15 April 2013, activist of Autonomous Workers' Union Vlad N. was attacked by neo-Nazi thugs armed with a knife. They injured an artery on his leg. On 20 April 2012, another journalist and a member of “Direct Action” Andriy Movchan was beaten by several nationalists and wounded with brass knuckles. Movchan recognized one of the attackers, who was Svoboda’s activist. On 1 December 2012, a couple of organizers of the presentation of Commons: Journal for Social Criticism were pepper sprayed and beaten before the presentation even started. It is known that one of the attackers was Ihor Kostuk, a member of Svoboda, who had threatened to the organizers days before the presentation.
Totally more than a dozen attacks happened during the years 2012-2013 but only a few of them received media attention. The police is constantly turning a blind eye on these cases.
More info on the rise of far-right violence in Ukraine.