THE HAGUE, February 3. /TASS/. A commemorative public action for the victims of the May 2, 2014, massacre in the Ukrainian city of Odessa was held in The Hague on Monday night.
Although the number of participants was not very big, the action definitely drew attention of the passers-by - not only the Dutch but also Norwegians, Spaniards, and citizens of other countries who asked questions, shared their opinions about the situation in Russia and Ukraine and helped rekindle the candles that were blown out by gusts of wind from time to time.
"We try to hold such actions every month," Nikita Ananyev, an organizer, told TASS. "We think it’s our duty to keep memories of the people who died in that horrible tragedy. Hopefully, the culprits and perpetrators of that heinous crime will be brought to account under law one day."
A Dutch participant in the action, Edward Smith, leveled sharp criticism at the media in the Netherlands as he spoke to TASS. He said he had learned about the Odessa massacre only from the Internet.
Everyone realized these atrocities were committed by the real Nazis bolstering the Kiev regime and that is why the Dutch media totally disregarded the horrendous extermination of people, Smith said.
Such glaring facts expose the extreme one-sidedness of coverage of the events in Ukraine by the Dutch media, he said, adding that one-sidedness marks the reporting on absolutely anything that happens in Ukraine these days.
Mass disturbances in Odessa that eventually led up to a disastrous finale started in the afternoon on May 2, 2014, when football fans from the northeast city of Kharkov marched along city streets with along Right Sector radicals and supporters from Kiev's so-called ‘Maidan self-defence force’.
The mob of rightwing radicals put up brawls with campaigners seeking a referendum on the issue of Ukraine's federalisation and giving Russian the status of a state language.
At least 48 people died and more than 200 were injured in clashes in Odessa after radicals set ablaze the regional House of Trade Unions, where pro-federalisation activists had taken refuge, and a tent camp near it where signatures in support of the referendum had been gathered.
Some Ukrainian politicians said afterwards the clashes had taken away the lives of at least 116 people. The Kiev authorities did little to shed light on massacre.