The Saturday rally brought together Andriy Biletsky’s ‘Natsionalny Korpus’, Dmytro Yarosh’s ‘Derhzvnystka Initisiatyva’, ‘Svoboda’ party and other nationalist groups to protest against recent ‘repressions targeting Ukrainian nationalists’.
Staged at the Ukrainian president’s residence in Bankova Street, the gathering soon turned violent – clashes erupted soon after the protesters refused bag checks demanded by police. Kyiv police later informed seven cops and one National Guard were injured.
The protest was also marred by the assault on the ‘Bukvy’ reporter Oleksandr Kuzenlnii.
According to Kuzhenlii, who was covering the event he was confronted at the rally by a balaklava-wearing protester who angrily demanded him to leave.
Soon as the rally ended, Kuzhelnyi was surrounded and assaulted by a group of angry protesters who demanded the ‘Bukvy’ reporter to delete all the photos he took at the event.
‘I just walked 100 meters, and somebody called me. I looked around and there was a guy catching up with me. He asked what I had been photographing, demanded I delete the photos. Some other guys came up, surrounded me. I tried to leave .. they followed demanding I take out my phone to delete the photos. I told them I was a journalist, I was reporting. They asked about my job, I showed my journalist card. They didn’t let go at that, called me ‘a leftie’. I offered them to come up to Andriy Biletsky so that he could confirm that I am a journalist. They refused. One of them kicked my in a leg, another one punched me in the head and I fell’.
Oleksandr Kuzhelnii also said that one of the attackers recognized him – he called out ‘That’s the guy ‘Hans’ beat the s*** out of’, in a clear reference to Mykhail ‘Hans’ Shalankevich, a Russian ultra-Nazi radical, who attacked the reporter at the July rally protesting against the trial of Belarus anarchist Oleksiy Bolenkov.
The attackers fled the scene when they saw approaching photographers and reporters. ‘Bukvy’ reporter sustained visible bruises and an ambulance was called to the site of the incident. He reported the incident to police and documented the injuries.
It is worth noting that Andriy Biletsky, who was among organizers of the protest, promptly condemned the violent act against the journalist and promised to help find the attackers.
Update 18:39
The attackers recorded themselves abusing and attacking ‘Bukvy’ reporter. Later into the day their mobile phone footage emerged on one of private Telegram channels.