UKRAINIAN TV CHANNEL BLOCKED BY RADICALS. POLICE NOT INTERFERING.

Ukrainian TV channel NewsOne was illegally blocked by a group of unknown radicals supposedly dissatisfied with channel owner calling Maidan a 'coup d’etat'.

Kyiv, December 3

Unknown people wearing military uniform and calling themselves activists have cut off the access to channel’s premises with sandbags, wooden pallets and barbed wire. Police officers present do not intervene. Ukrainian lawyer Olena Dyachenko comments on the situation saying that the blockade violates at least two paragraphs of the Criminal Code: obstruction of the legitimate professional activities of journalists (par. 171) and hostage-taking (par. 147). An ambulance called for one of channel’s employees was not permitted to enter, instead the radicals offered to ‘carry that person outside’.

Rdcicals blocking channel's premises

Sandbags blocking the entrance

Channel’s owner and Ukrainian MP Yevheniy Murayev claims he possesses information about President Poroshenko having ordered local radicals related to Dmytro Korchinsky (prominent Ukrainian nationalist) to block the ‘only channel putting maximum democratic effort to achieve President’s resignation’. Earlier Murayev called Maidan (a demonstration of 2013-2014 held in Kyiv and leading to former President Viktor Yanukovych’s resignation and escape to Russia) a 'coup d'etat', which had resulted in several pro-Maidan deputies leaving the studio during a live broadcast. NewsOne is also one of the few media covering anti-Poroshenko protests arranged by Mikheil Saakashvili, former governor of Odessa region who was stripped of Ukrainian citizenship, but illegally returned to the country.