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Street musicians beaten in Ukraine’s Lvov for singing in Russian

One of the musicians received a strong blow to the ribs and has a split lip

KIEV, March 5. /TASS/. Street musicians were beaten on a central square in Ukraine’s Lvov for singing in Russian, Ukrainian news portal Strana.ua informed on Friday.

"A 'language activist' engaged in a verbal conflict with young people singing in Russian, but left without getting her way," the news portal reports. "After that, young men joined the conflict, beating the musicians and breaking their musical instruments."

The video of the beginning of the conflict was published by one of the portal’s reporters. The footage shows one of the onlookers trying to make the musicians stop singing in Russian, stating that they do not have the right to do that in a public place. For their part, the musicians said that this is not prohibited by law, and, what is more, they are Russian-language speakers. The video was shot by the language activist in question, who later posted it on Instagram. The news portal notes that one of the musicians received a strong blow to the ribs and has a split lip.

Meanwhile, Taras Kremin, Ukraine’s commissioner for the protection of the state language, wrote on Facebook on Friday that no cases of discrimination against people speaking different languages in Ukraine had been registered.

After the 2014 coup d’etat, Ukraine has been conducting an active "de-Russification" campaign. Despite the wide spread of the Russian language among its population, Ukraine has restricted the use of the Russian language in the media, trade and services spheres as well as in official paperwork and education.