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Protesters in Kiev elect “revolutionary commandant” of city

Protesters in the Ukrainian capital city Kiev elected Nikolai Katerinchuk, a lawmaker with the opposition party Batkivshchina

© Фадечиев Сергей/ИТАР-ТАСС

KIEV, December 08, 22:11 /ITAR-TASS/. Protesters in the Ukrainian capital city Kiev on Sunday elected Nikolai Katerinchuk, a lawmaker with the opposition party Batkivshchina (Fatherland), a “revolutionary commandant” of the city.

He offered his candidature at the so-called “people’s veche” (assembly) the opposition organized in Kiev’s central Independence Square.

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“We need a revolutionary commandant of Kiev. I am ready to undertake this responsibility,” he said. “A revolution wins only when it wins in the capital city, and from this very day we must take control of each street, each courtyard, each corner.”

He called for total mobilization to control the city. “We must establish total control over Kiev. We must install check points at all roads leading to the city. We must control the movement of armed forces and police. They must ask you, the city dwellers, for permission to go here of there.”

Katerinchuk also promised to “throw Popov [the head of the Kiev city administration] from his office, because he does not fulfill his duties.

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