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Donbas supporters set up tent camp outside Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg

STRASBOURG, October 2 /TASS/. Participants in a rally in support of the people of Donbass have put up a tent compound near the headquarters of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The Strasbourg Mayor's office had issued permission to the protesters to picket until December 22.

The tents were mounted on a bank of the Marne canal, between the Palace of Europe and the building of the European Court for Human Rights. A protest act was first staged here on the following day after a discussion of the situation in Ukraine held at an autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe in Strasbourg. It is a second PACE session being held in the absence of the Russian delegation and a second session at which decisions on Ukraine have been adopted without formulating them in a final resolution.

One of the tenants of the tent compound, a young woman, said her name was Gulanara and that she was half-ethnic Crimean Tatar born in the settlement of Gorlovka. She studied at a university in Donetsk and now lives in Europe. The woman learned about the planned protest act after she had picked up a leaflet with the information, which was later confirmed in a message she came across on a social website.

“The protesters are convinced that the truth about the situation in Ukraine, and in particular, in the southeast of Ukraine, should be brought home to the people of Europe”, the woman said.

"I am waiting for politicians to drop an awful campaign against Russia and all the Russian world," Gulnara told Itar-Tass. " I want dirty, disgusting lies about the situation in Ukraine to be stopped. The events should be presented the way they are; I am asking to heed the voice of the people",the woman said.

"All what has been done in Ukraine since the beginning of this year was imposed from the outside. What good has "Maidan" done to all of us? Absolutely nothing. What have we gained? It was full collapse of the economy and even more formidable and unscrupulous oligarchs who had come into power. My country is dying. I think I have been deprived of my motherland," the woman said.

"The protesters cherish no illusions that the protest act might arouse interest of European politicians. But I can't help joining the act. One cannot remain silent," Gulnara said.