Over 100,000 in Lviv rally to protest massive vote fraud (11/28/04)

Over 100,000 in Lviv rally to protest massive vote fraud

by Matthew Matuszak

LVIV - Over 100,000 residents of Lviv attended rallies in front of the city's Opera House on November 22 and 23 to protest massive vote fraud in the second round of Ukraine's presidential election, held on November 21. In solidarity with the rally, the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church organized a moleben (prayer service) at the statue of the Mother of God in downtown Lviv on Monday afternoon, November 22. Also that day, Lviv's city council, leading the way as in 1991 with Ukrainian independence, was the first municipality in Ukraine to recognize Viktor Yushchenko as president.

Pop singer Ruslana, winner of the Eurovision-2004 international song contest, spoke to those gathered at Monday's rally. "We were able to make our choice! We have to defend it and we can do that! We believe in justice," Ruslana added, "Yes! We'll win!"

"Students are at the vanguard of the movement and are the engine of the revolution that is not only rising from the people but is also the creation of a new Ukrainian nation," said the Rev. Dr. Borys Gudziak, rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) and one of the priests who celebrated the moleben led by Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Bishop Hlib Lonchyna. "What we are seeing today is the result of long suffering and perseverance and spiritual resistance that could no longer be repressed," said the Rev. Gudziak.

Because the government stopped ticket sales, thousands of students took over the Lviv train station and were demanding an extra train to travel to Kyiv to join in massive demonstrations there.

Students and staff of the Ukrainian Catholic University joined their peers in the trip to Kyiv by other means. With the blessing of the Rev. Gudziak, several groups of students left for Kyiv in UCU's vans. A group of UCU staff, including Volodymyr Turchynovskyi, director of the university's Department of Planning and Development, went to Odesa as election observers and then continued on by car to Kyiv across several police checks. Suspecting road blockades, Andrii Borovets, director of UCU's Institute of Non-Profit Management, took a plane to Kyiv, with Mr. Yushchenko's Lviv campaign manager on board as well.

"The Ukrainian Catholic University has been in opposition for the last 10 years to a government that refused to recognize the dignity and legitimacy of theological studies," said the Rev. Gudziak. "The entire rectorate, faculty and student body of UCU rejects the falsified results of the elections and recognizes as president of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko."

Under the leadership of their rectorates, seminarians from all the Greek-Catholic seminaries in Ukraine - Lviv, Drohobych, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk and Uzhhorod - have gone to Kyiv.

The National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy has created a strike committee headed personally by Rector Viacheslav Briukhovetsky and is preparing a statement to other colleges and universities. "The sense of solidarity and unity of the academic world is profoundly moving and motivating," said the Rev. Gudziak. "It will lead to a new Ukraine."

Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk were among other cities that joined Lviv in recognizing Mr. Yushchenko as president on November 22. In a joint meeting attended by prominent businesspeople and other civic leaders, both the Lviv Oblast and Lviv city councils recognized Mr. Yushchenko on November 23.

Materials from "Maidan, An Internet Hub for Civil Resistance to Authoritarianism in Ukraine" (http://eng.maidanua.org) were used for this story.

| Home Page |