UKRAINE: RIOT POLICE BEAT MOURNERS AT BURIAL OF THE PATRIARCH OF THE UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

Record ID: 261903

  • Title: UKRAINE: RIOT POLICE BEAT MOURNERS AT BURIAL OF THE PATRIARCH OF THE UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
  • Date: 18th July 1995
  • Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (JULY 18, 1995) (REUTERS TELEVISION - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV PEOPLE OUTSIDE CATHEDRAL 0.05 2. CU UKRAINIAN FLAG OUTSIDE CATHEDRAL 0.09 3. WIDE OF INTERIOR CATHEDRAL / FUNERAL SERVICE IN PROGRESS (3 SHOTS) 0.25 4. SV BODY OF DEAD UKRAINIAN PATRIARCH VOLODYMYR IN COFFIN 0.29 5. SV FUNERAL PROCESSION OPPOSITE BARRICADES AND POLICE UNITS OUTSIDE CATHEDRAL / PRIEST BREAKS THROUGH BARRICADES 0.39 6. SV CLASHES BETWEEN RIOT POLICE AND MOURNERS (3 SHOTS) 0.56 7. SLV COFFIN CARRIED BEHIND LINE OF POLICE 1.01 8. SV VOLODYMIR'S SUPPORTERS DIGGING GRAVE IN SQUARE IN FRONT OF THE MONASTERY / SUPPORTERS HOLDING FLAGS (2 SHOTS) 1.09 9. SV LID LOWERED ONTO COFFIN 1.15 10. SV FIGHTING BREAKS OUT (2 SHOTS) 1.23 11. SLV POLICEMEN BEATING SUPPORTER ON THE GROUND 1.28 12. SV PEOPLE LEADING AWAY BLEEDING SUPPORTER 1.34 13. SLV WOMEN KNEELING IN THE STREET / PRAYING 1.37 14. SLV EARTH AND FLOWERS THROWN OVER COFFIN IN GRAVE 1.43 15. SLV POLICE BEATING AND KICKING PROTESTER ON THE GROUND 1.48 16. SV PRIEST BEING LED AWAY 1.52 17. SV POLICE AND PROTESTERS SCUFFLING 2.03 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 2nd August 1995 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KIEV, UKRAINE
  • City:
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Reuters ID: LVA3P2W23DBPS42NYOS3H17MERXU
  • Story Text: Riot police on Tuesday (July 18) beat mourners at the improvised burial in Kiev of the patriach of the breakaway branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has split from the Russian Orthodox Church.

    About 1,000 mourners accompanied by nationalists wearing uniforms scuffled briefly with police on Tuesday before being allowed to gather outside St Sofia Cathedral.

    Refused permission by religious authorities to bury Patriarch Volodymyr inside the cathedral, they smashed the pavement outsi its walls and dug an improvised grave.

    But as they were heaping dirt on the coffin, Berkut (eagle) riot police charged into the square, firing tear gas and striking worshippers with truncheons.

    After the beatings, hundreds of police ringed the square and priests resumed the interrupted funeral service while about 500 worshippers watched.

    The director of St Sofia told views any burial in the grounds required government permission and approval from archeologists.

    The partiarch's coffin was buried in the makeshift gravesite after negotiations between ministers and senior clergy.

    Volodymyr, who spent 19 years in Soviet labour camps, headed the breakaway branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which split from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1992 after Ukraine's independence from Soviet rule. He died of a heart attack on Friday Despite backing from Ukraine's post-independence leaders the church has failed to win recognition from the world Orthodox hierachy. Volodymyr's pro-Moscow rivals also retained the allegiance of most of Ukraine's 35 million Orthodox faithful.


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