Protests in Ukraine escalate

[Natalka]

Rally on Parliament Hill noon Wednesday, after which protesters will proceed to the Ukrainian Embassy, to call for sanctions against the Ukrainian government, following an announcement from Ottawa that select government officials from that country are now barred from entering Canada.

The rally comes one day after Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander announced that, effective immediately, key Ukrainian officials are banned from entering Canada in the wake of a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Alexander said Wednesday, that Ottawa is watching developments in the Ukraine closely, and tougher sanctions may be on the way.

"We will look at all other options beyond what we've done," Alexander told CTV’s Canada AM. "There's a very tense situation still underway. The priority for everyone is on preventing more violence from taking place.

"We want to focus on the step in Ukraine that has caused the most tension, that has caused the most escalation of the crisis, and that was the violence against peaceful protesters."

Alexander acknowledged the number of officials the ban would affect is not huge, but he said it could grow.
"It's not a small number, it's not a huge number either," he said. "The number of people on the list might actually change as we get more information and consult with our allies."

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/ottaw...#ixzz2roEsr6hk

Jason Kenney speaks

[Natalka]

3am on Independence Square. Tent city. Off-duty frontline guards rise to sing anthem.

photo from Macleans online

[Natalka]

Kiev (AFP) - The Ukrainian government has threatened to outlaw the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church for holding prayer services for opposition protesters ...

yet

Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, former head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, arrives to speak to demonstrators Saturday...



Without commenting on political issues, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) has constantly and eloquently defended the freedoms of Ukrainian citizens to assemble, to speak their mind, and to choose and practice a religion. Together with other members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, it has provided pastoral ministry to the demonstrators camped on the city squares, preached the peaceful resolution of conflicts, and offered to mediate between the opposition parties and the government.

Much more info here

http://www.catholicworldreport.com/B...x#.UulK_VNju9Q

[Lynn49]

I'm sitting here in tears......damn their government and damn russia to hell!
That'll probably get deleted...but I had to say it.

Natalka: thank you for keeping us informed and up to date; I'm watching the streaming video site you posted and will keep it on from now on...thanks, Hon. My parents' families were from Lviv; it's so difficult to see it now....

[Natalka]

I know Lynn, it's hard.... but bless them for going through this struggle because they believe in and want a TRUE democracy.

It's centered in Kyiv, but things have been going on right around the country.

I also keep a watch on the twitter page, very little of it is in English (and any English ones aren't complete or right up to date), so I'm trying my best to keep updated. My Ukrainian is fairly primitive, but at least I can read the Cyrillic to figure most things out. If it's something really important I want to know, I save it til the evening when my husband will translate for me.

[Lynn49]

Natalka, I love that post...I'm going to find some yellow and blue ribbon, heaven knows I have tons of the stuff from my scrapbooking...and pin the two in a loop onto my coat for solidarity with them....let people ask what it represents! I'd love to tell them!
{{{{hugs}}}}

[Darth Penguin]

Natalka..

do you think this amnesty law the govt has passed is just a sticking plaster until things calm down??

The Ukrainian parliament has passed a law providing amnesty to protesters detained during recent unrest.
Opposition parties abstained from voting, in anger at a condition in the bill which means it will only apply if protesters abandon government buildings they have occupied in recent days.
Protesters on the streets of the capital also rejected the move.
The protests began in November after President Viktor Yanukovych reversed a decision to sign an EU trade deal.
The next month he signed a $15bn-worth (£9.2bn; 10.9bn euros) bailout deal with Russia.
On Wednesday, the EU's top foreign policy chief said she was "shocked" by the deadly violence in the capital and across the country in recent weeks.
Catherine Ashton - who was in Kiev for talks with Mr Yanukovych and opposition groups - said Ukraine needed "a political process that is engaged in quickly and properly by everyone".
"The responsibility is inevitably going to fall on government to do that as quickly as possible," she said.

[Natalka]

On our FB page, we are using the pic below as our profile pic - so are any other supporters we know. The black is for those who have died in the fight for democracy, the ribbons are the colours of the Ukraine reversed - because the situation is upside-down.

Euromaidan Canada on FB (you don't need to be signed in to view)
https://www.facebook.com/euromaidancanada

[Darth Penguin]

Ugg...I got taht Euromaidan scam earlier today...glad I'm a cynic over un-solicited requests..

[Natalka]

In Saskatoon - January 29

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/U...678/story.html

Sister Theodosia of the Ukrainian Sisters of St. Joseph and another sister have just returned from a two-week trip to Ukraine to support the protesters.
They visited the so-called maidan encampment in Kiev, and more modest maidan protest camps in some of the country's smaller cities.
"It's quite a sight to see," she said, adding supporters are bringing food and supplies to the protesters so they do not have to cede their ground.



Sister Theodosia and The Ukrainian Sisters of St. Joseph are having nightly prayer services and fellowship at the Monastary on Ave. M. S. every evening at 7 p.m. for the community until the violence and unrest in their home country is settled.

The monastery is across the street from St. George's Cathedral.

(I wish everyone had a Sister Theodosia in their lives! She's quite the character - very outspoken, firm, funny - drives a vespa in the summer with her full long habit on, and her birkenstocks!)




The shrine at the monastery.

http://www2.canada.com/saskatoonstar...d-e3e3dfc61d74

[Lynn49]

She looks like a character, alright! Good on her!
I checked my former church's web-site to see if they were holding a prayer service some time, since I'd attend it, but nothing...

[anisa]

my heart goes out to those being persecuted. those pics are just unbelievable.

one of my cousins is married to a Ukranian guy, most of his family is there.

[Natalka]

People attend in a rally on Independence Square in Kiev early January 30, 2014. In a chaotic late night session the Ukrainian parliament adopted a law that would grant amnesty to protesters arrested during the country's crisis, a measure which the opposition defiantly refused to back.

Ukraine's parliament passed an amnesty law at a late night session on Jan. 29. The law, authored by the president's representative in parliament Yuriy Myroshnychenko, was denounced by the opposition as unacceptable because it imposes a deadline on the protesters for leaving the government buildings taken over in the past week across Ukraine.

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4:02 p.m., Jan. 30 A presidential address to the Ukrainian nation was recently posted on the official presidential website. In it, President Viktor acknowledged the death of police officer Dmytro Dunets and said he also regrets the deaths of "young people who died in this resistance."


"Each case leaves a deep and painful sore in our hearts. And each of us is asking – what for do people suffer," the address reads. Yanukovych also ensured that Ukrainian authorities did fulfill their parts of a truce with the opposition and condemned the opposition's further calls for protests to continue.


"In the process of negotiation we have reached concrete agreements with the opposition. We have accomplished all the obligations that authorities took over. However, the opposition continues to escalate the situation calling for people to stand in the cold for the political ambitions of several leaders," the statement reads.

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukra...es-335735.html

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And the president has 'called in sick' - on Euromaidan twitter, it's being called 'maidanitis'...

[Natalka]

- 18 degrees

[Natalka]

And the Ukrainian police take a break.... shield makes a great sled.