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More than 3,000 people join rally in Donetsk for transforming Ukraine into federation

DONETSK, March 29. /ITAR-TASS/. More than 3,000 people came to Lenin Square in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk Saturday night to join forces in a rally for transforming Ukraine into a federation and for the reunion of Eastern Ukraine with Russia.

Participants in the rally declared their intention to use legal methods for pressing the authorities into a referendum that would resolve the destiny of the heavily industrialized Donbass coalfields area. They were waving Russian flags, as well as the standards of the Eastern Front and the Donetsk Republic movements.

Many participants attached St George’s ribbons - the symbols of military glory and victory in Russia - to their lapels of their coats.

One could hear people chanting the slogans ‘Down with Fascism’, ‘Set Gubarev Free’ (a demand to release Pavel Gubarev, the so-called popular governor of the Donetsk region, from the Ukrainian jail), and ‘Donbass for Referendum’.

In the course of the meeting, activists of the Russky Bloc public association continued an opinion poll related to the proposals to turn Ukraine into a federation, to the status of the Russian language, to the possibility of Ukraine’s joining the Eurasian Customs Union, and to collaboration with NATO.

Sunday, March 30, Lenin Square in Donetsk is likely to become the site of a many-thousands-strong meeting where the residents of the city and region will demand a referendum on the status of Donbass.

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