18 February 2014

While Yanukovych speaks pub­licly to the media of am­nesty, 18 people die in clashes between people in Maidan and Berkut (the spe­cial forces riot po­lice squad). The Opposition put forth a bill to change back to a mixed Parliamentary/​Presidential system. The Speaker of the House (a friend of Yanukovych’s/appointed by Yanukovych) did not re­gister the amend­ment, thus pre­venting it from being de­bated in Parliament. The Opposition ques­tion the Speaker’s man­oeuvre. People or­ganise out­side the Parliament buildings. Yanukovych calls for a truce. He says the protestors must look for a peaceful res­ol­u­tion, and that he stands for peace and justice. And yet at the same time, he calls for anti-​terrorism meas­ures (ie. free reign on vi­ol­ence) to be taken against dis­ruptive forces. There is a rising fear of the army being called in (doc­u­ments have since been found that show a signed au­thor­isa­tion of mil­itary ac­tion in Maidan). 

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