Shapovlev himself told the representatives of HRC “Memorial” that the only conflict between him and the PRD activists occurred on May 1st, when he “rudely” refused to pay three thousand hryvnia for the maintenance of a checkpoint located on a road leading out of Druzhkivka.
The following quote characterizes the educational activities in which Shapovalov was engaged: “A year ago, historians from several cities, including Kramatorsk, gathered at the Alekseyev-Druzhkovskaya library to discuss stories related to the establishment of the oldest settlement in the north of the Donetsk region. Exactly one year later, the history of Alekseyev-Druzhkovka came into being. Few expected the book to be so illuminating and impressive: more than 300 pages and full of interesting articles and photos. The lion’s share of the credit goes to Yevgeni Shapovalov, village council deputy and ethnographer, who not only initiated the creation of the history of Alekseyev-Druzhkovka and raised the funds necessary for its publication, but was also actively involved in writing portions of the work. Alekseyev-Druzhkovka is lucky to have such a patriot.”
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On May 8th, after 10:00 pm, an Orthodox priest of the Mosocw Patriarchate named Father Pavel (Pavel V. Zhuchenko, born in 1970) was killed at the checkpoint installed by PRD supporters on the road leaving Druzhkovka.
At 10:45 pm ambulances arrived on the scene. Upon their arrival, the doctors found the body of the priest with a bullet wound not far from a passenger car. Those on duty at the post claimed that they were forced to shoot at the car which had driven quickly through the checkpoint without stopping, despite the order to do so.
Father Pavel had served for a long time in the Druzhkovka church and enjoyed great prestige, not only among his parishioners, but even among non-believers and other people in the small town. However, three months previously, due to some conflict among the church leadership, he was removed from the ministry. When social conflict started to increase in the region and began to erupt in episodes of armed confrontation, Father Pavel tried to begin a peacekeeping operation on his own initiative. He went to the armed men of the different factions – to the Ukrainian National Guard soldiers stationed in Slavyansk, to the Slavyansk militia, and to the checkpoints – and called for peace. Not everyone approved of his actions and those on duty must have recognized him and his car. It is known that on this day he had gone to Slavyansk where he had had a difficult conversation with the leadership of the militia.
The death of the priest resonated profoundly with the residents of Druzhkovka and Konstantinovka.
1.3. Possibility of peaceful assembly
Supporters of the PRD in Donetsk are able to carry out their demonstrations on the streets without impediment. They have continuously been making demonstrations in the streets, on Lenin Square and around the regional administration building where they set up tents, distribute leaflets and display posters, etc.
A rally and march in honor of Victory Day on May 9th in Donetsk’s Lenin Square, and in other cities in the regions, almost turned into an action of PRD supporters.
Opponents of the idea of an independent PRD have had no opportunity to exercise their right to peaceful assembly, either before the referendum or afterwards. A rally for a “United Ukraine” was repeatedly subject to violent attacks by PRD supporters. In Donetsk and Kiev, we interviewed a large number of participants in these events and carefully studied videos that had been posted online referring to what happened to the City Council Secretary of Donetsk. None of our interlocutors, including supporters of the PRD, have been able to provide a single example of a meeting or rally held by PRD supports that came under attack by opponents.
Here we will concentrate on the two largest collisions that occurred on March 13th and April 28th. During the conversation, which took place on May 7th in the city administration building of the Donetsk City Council Secretary, S.V. Bogachev, we recognized that in both cases the attackers were pro-Russian activists and also supporters of the PRD. However, our interviewee laid the blame for the tragic events on both sides since, in his view, the proponents of a unified Ukraine “provoked their opponents”.
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Midway through March, supporters of a unified Ukraine gave advance notification to the authorities of Donetsk, in accordance with Ukrainian law, of their intention to hold a rally on March 13th in Lenin Square.
Two weeks previously, on March 1st, during a rally on Lenin Square in Donetsk, pro-Russian activists expressed their disagreement with the policies of the new Ukrainian authorities. They elected Pavel Gubaryov as the “People’s Governor” and temporarily seized the regional administration building. Supporters of a unified Ukraine therefore felt it necessary to express their opinion on the matter.
On March 9th, rally organizers held negotiations with the city police to discuss security issues. Two hundred and fifty policemen were allocated to maintain law and order at the rally. Representatives of the HRC “Memorial” were told by the organizers and participants of the meeting that there had been reports of possible provocations and attacks and that they formed their own “self-defense” force (about 100 people) and involved a few dozen football fans for additional security. These people were not armed and did not bring sticks or pipes. Some of them wore padding on their feet and hands, elbow pads, knee pads and other protective equipment. Some were in possession of tear gas canisters. All of these people were residents of the Donetsk region.
On March 12th, pro-Russian activists also filed a notice of their intention to hold a meeting on March 13th on Lenin Square. Obviously, this second rally was planned in order to disrupt that for a “united Ukraine”. Otherwise, there would be no clear explanation as to why they had to hold their rally at the same time and in the same Square.
As a result, that evening at 6:00 pm, two hostile rallies were held in the same space, separated by a thin line of police. The law enforcement forces were clearly insufficient. The local authorities, like the police and civilians, couldn’t help but think that tragic events would occur on the Square. Nevertheless, adequate preparations were not made.
According to various estimates, the rally for a “united Ukraine” was attended by several hundred to two thousand people. The pro-Russian rally was larger and more aggressive. In reality, it was not so much a rally as a gathering of people with the specific intent to inhibit the peaceful assembly of supporters of a unified Ukraine. This is demonstrated by video clips uploaded online: VIDEO (filmed by members of the pro-Russian rally) and VIDEO (filmed by members of the rally for a unified Ukraine).
The mission members interviewed some of those who were protesting for a unified Ukraine who described how they had potatoes, bottles, smoke bombs, firecrackers, bags of flour and stones thrown at them. Given the tense atmosphere, the organizers of the rally decided to disband earlier than scheduled and people began to disperse. According to plan, the members of the self-defense force would ensure the safe exit of the rally participants before leaving themselves. However, when most of the participants had already dispersed, pro-Russian rally participants broke through the police line. They surrounded the few members of the self-defense force who remained in the square (from a few dozen to a couple hundred). Apparently, the attackers accused them of being “Banderovki” who had come to Donetsk from other regions of Ukraine. A fierce fight broke out during which an activist from the Donetsk branch of the “Svoboda” party, Dmitri Cherniavski, was stabbed to death.
The most complete video footage VIDEO 1, VIDEO 2 further illustrates the events. The stories recorded by mission members correspond to what can be seen in the video clips posted online. A group of young people acting as the self-defense force for the rally for a unified Ukraine were surrounded by an extremely aggressive crowd. They had no bats or pipes, but a few of them did have tear gas cans. The police tried to protect them, but they were not very active. At one point, some of the pro-Ukrainian activists were put inside of a police van for protection.
What happened next was strange: the police actually opened up access to the van and it became a trap for those hiding inside. Stones crashed through the windows and the front of the van was packed with people. The van became over-crowded and people began to fall out. They were forced to kneel and some of them were beaten. The police were sluggish in trying to protect these people. It is not clear what put a stop to this episode and it is not explained in the video clips. Obviously, there was some sort of breakthrough, orchestrated either by the police or by pro-Ukrainian activists. In any case, many of those trapped were able to escape, but not all. As of this writing, dozens of people are still recovering in the hospital. VIDEO 1; VIDEO 2; VIDEO 3
Many Russian media outlets (for example, Rossiyskaya Gazeta” and the program “Vesti RTR”) reported that the bloody events in Donetsk were provoked by radical Ukrainian nationalists.
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Over the course of the following days (March 15th, 16th and 17th) pro-Russian rallies hosted by PRD supporters were held in the city center (including Lenin Square) and went off without hindrance.
On the 17th of April, supporters of a unified Ukraine were still able to hold a rather large rally which was organized by different people than that of the 13th of March. The gathering took place outside of the city center, under heavy police guard and proceeded without incident.
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On April 28th, supporters of a unified Ukraine decided to hold a rally and a march. They submitted a notice to the local authorities in advance and the organizers discussed the plan for the event with the city police. According to policy, the city should have provided around one thousand properly-equipped law enforcement officers.
Since the regional administration building in the city center had been occupied by PRD supporters by this time, the event organizers decided to avoid excessive risk and planned to hold the gathering a sufficient distance from the building and plan a procession route away from the city center.
During the day, an “Automaidan” event took place in Donetsk: a convoy of several dozen vehicles with Ukrainian flags drove through the city. However, this action was met with violence. Aggressive people armed with bats and iron bars stopped the column and seriously damaged eight cars.
At 6:00 pm, several thousand marchers gathered at the Olympic Stadium. After a short rally and the playing of the Ukrainian anthem, the participants marched down Artyom Street in the opposite direction of the regional administration building. As we were told by event participants (and which is confirmed by online video footage Watch here; VIDEO; Another recorded VIDEO), the march was peaceful and included many young and elderly people – some people even brought their children. None of the protestors were armed with sticks.
The back and sides of the demonstration were guarded by policemen in full riot gear – helmets, protective body armor, shields and batons. The column marched down Artyom Street for a kilometer when the organizers received information that the procession was being followed by a few hundred people with shields, batons and helmets. One of the organizers explained that, after receiving this information, he immediately turned to a police officer with whom he had previously spoken. The officer said that that they would “take all necessary measures.” Soon, however, explosions could be heard near the back of the column and people were screaming – a panic then broke out.
One of the participants of the event told us that he and his wife had missed the beginning of the march and had caught up with the rear of the column when they heard the sound of people running. He had only begun to turn around when he received several blows to the leg from a hard object. He fell and dislocated his arm. His leg injury proved so serious that by March 11th he could hardly walk and had to lean on a crutch. His wife reported that she saw the attackers strike an elderly, grey-haired man. He fell to the pavement and was bleeding from the head. She had called to a police officer while it was happening and demanded “Why aren’t you doing anything??”, to which he did not respond.
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