Monitoring of protests, repression, and concessions during the events of Maidan in November 2013 – February 2014
During the events of Maidan in November 2013 – February 2014 violence by protesters was a response to government repression, not vice versa. This was the conclusion of the monitoring of protests, repression, and concessions conducted by the Center for Society Research with support of the International Renaissance Foundation’s Democratic Practice Initiative.
In total, 3950 protests (this number is being updated) were recorded between 21 November 2013 and 23 February 2014. 3235 of them were in support of Maidan and 365 were Anti-Maidan.
The organization most often reported by the media as taking part in the protests was Svoboda. This party was involved in at least 18% of Maidan-related protests. Participation by Batkivshchyna was recorded in 13%, UDAR in 10%, Democratic Alliance in 3%, Radical Party in 1% of protests. Unnamed opposition parties were reported as participants in 2% of protests.
Very often protesters were identified as simply “EuroMaidan activists”; therefore, 50% of Maidan protests didn’t include mention of specific parties, organizations, trade unions or ideological initiatives.
During the given period, 24% of protests were reported as confrontational and 12% were violent. However, almost two-third (64%) were peaceful protests: rallies, pickets, tent cities, etc.
Every third protest involved repressions. Authorities were primarily the ones to react negatively to protests. Besides the police, at least one-quarter of the repressions were carried out by unidentified individuals, mostly so-called “titushky” (very often they worked with the police). The courts were also active (13% of protests). Overall, 40 out of 100 protests involved a negative reaction by the authorities.
Participation by far-right groups (Svoboda, Right Sector, and other Ukrainian ultra-nationalists parties, organizations, and initiatives) was recorded in 25% of Maidan protests. Svoboda was the most active political group on Maidan. Right Sector was the most active in the violent protests on Maidan: their involvement was recorded in at least 16% of violent events.
Despite the fact that the media reported on the Kyiv Maidan the most often, it only accounted for 13% of the entire Maidan (433 protests). The leader by number of Maidan protests was the western region (38% – at least 1218 protests). The figure was also high in the central region (29% – at least 918 protests). The east and south (excluding Donbas and Crimea) accounted for 8% of the protests, the Donbas – 3% and Crimea – 1%.
Contacts:
Center for Society Research
Volodymyr Ishchenko
+380 97 396 44 99
info@cedos.org.ua
