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Timoshenko urges opposition to take power

KIEV, December 06, 3:13 /ITAR-TASS/. Former Prime Minister and opposition Batkivshchina party leader Yulia Timoshenko urged Ukrainians to take power but in coordination with the opposition.

Her call was read out by her daughter Yevgenia at an opposition rally in the centre of Kiev on Thursday, December 5.

“I urge all people who can fight to act! It’s not late yet. Just talking in the squares is not enough. The people of Ukraine must take power in their hands immediately,” Timoshenko wrote.

She noted that “all these actions must be coordinated with the opposition which is carrying out a great mission and should be listened to in order to avoid bloodshed.”

“Our confrontation is peaceful and legitimate. It must lead to a victory. I am confident of that,” Timoshenko said.

The Ukrainian opposition said it would start forming an independent municipal government in Kiev on Friday, December 6.

“We are beginning to form an independent government in Kiev, a city government,” Oleg Tyagnibok, the leader of the nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party, said at the rally in Kiev’s Independence Square.

He also said that the opposition was “doing big international work” and asked the international community to “support us, condemn the bloodshed in Ukraine and impose personal sanctions against all those who violate the rights of the Ukrainian nation and human rights in our state.”

Tyagnibok believes that all democratic countries should freeze “bank accounts, holdings and real estate abroad” that belong to the Ukrainian authorities.

He said opposition activists were picketing in front of the courthouses, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the homes of Berkut anti-riot police members.

Former parliament speaker Arseny Yatsenyuk, who is also one of the leaders of the opposition Batkivshchina (Fatherland) party, said the opposition action plan consisted of five points and called for releasing prisoners, prosecuting those who ordered the use of force against demonstrators, dismissing the government, holding early presidential and parliamentary elections, and signing an association agreement with the European Union.