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Radical Party protests constitutional changes, blocks Ukraine parliament’s tribune

Security has been tightened in the government quarter of downtown Kiev

© Mikhail Palinchak/TASS

KIEV, August 31. /TASS/.The Radical Party faction has blocked the tribune of Ukraine’s parliament ahead of Monday’s session due to consider the amendments to the constitution on the decentralization of power.

The party’s leader Oleh Lyashko and around 10 deputies from his faction are currently on the tribune.

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"Let’s stop the anti-constitutional revolt together," MP Igor Mosiychuk of the Radical Party said, calling on other patriotic-minded deputies to join them.

More than 1,000 Ukrainians from various regions who oppose the constitutional changes have staged a picket outside the parliament in downtown Kiev, a TASS correspondent reported from the scene.

The supporters of the Radical Party, the Samopomich (Self-Help) and Svoboda (Freedom), as well as the Ukrop (Dill) and Republican Platform parties have gathered for a rally on the Constitution Square in the Ukrainian capital.

They demand that the parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, should postpone the consideration of the amendments proposed by President Pyotr Poroshenko.

The plenary session of the parliament is scheduled at 11.00 a.m. local time (08.00 a.m. GMT).

The Batkivschyna (Fatherland) party led by Yulia Tymoshenko may vote against introducing amendments on decentralization, UNN news agency reported earlier on Monday.

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