- Title: UKRAINE: Students sign petition calling for association with EU
- Date: 27th November 2013
- Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (NOVEMBER 27, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE RALLYING IN INDEPENDENCE SQUARE VARIOUS OF STUDENT SIGNING BANNER POLICE BEHIND BARRICADE STUDENT SIGNING BANNER (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) PROTESTER AND ART STUDENT, SALANIA, SAYING: "It's the people's appeal to the president, to our tsar, where every person can write down his ideas about our revolution, our freedom and our choice. Every person has an opportunity to write down their thoughts on this piece of cloth." VARIOUS OF STUDENTS SIGNING BANNER STUDENTS WALKING WITH BANNER VARIOUS OF POLICE STANDING IN LINE STUDENTS HOLDING BANNER AND WALKING WITH IT TOWARDS POLICE FLAGS WAVING VARIOUS OF STUDENTS JUMPING AND WAVING RALLY IN PROGRESS VARIOUS OF MAN SIGNING PETITION RALLY IN PROGRESS
- Embargoed: 12th December 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ukraine
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAF3ZHBZOBXJRV2BJZC1791V3KS
- Story Text: Ukrainian students on Wednesday (November 27) signed their names on a huge cloth banner to deliver to President Vikor Yanukovich, calling for the former Soviet republic to enter into agreements binding it closer to the European Union.
Up to 5,000 Ukrainian university students protested in Kiev earlier in the day angered by their country's abrupt decision last week to abandon signing an agreement that would bring it closer to the European Union and instead courting alliances with its ex-Soviet master Russia.
In the central Independence Square, they unfurled the cloth and signed their names, while also collecting signatures on paper petitions in support of integration.
"It's the people's appeal to the president, to our tsar, where every person can write down his ideas about our revolution, our freedom and our choice. Every person has an opportunity to write down their thoughts on this piece of cloth," said protester and art student, Salania.
The students carried the banner to the presidential administration, where they were turned away by police in riot gear.
Ukraine's U-turn away from the E.U. triggered a protest rally of about 100,000 pro-Europe demonstrators in the capital Kiev last weekend, evoking memories of the Orange Revolution of 2004-5 which scuppered Yanukovich's first bid for the presidency. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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