The members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO) call on the authorities not to prevent the demonstrators on EuroMaidan from freely expressing their opinions and not to disturb their rallies. They also asked protesters not to break the law and to not be provoked into using violence.
The members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO) call on the authorities not to prevent the demonstrators on EuroMaidan from freely expressing their opinions and not to disturb their rallies. They also asked protesters not to break the law and to not be provoked into using violence, Channel 5 reports.
The representatives of the AUCCRO recalled that in September a number of the leading churches of Ukraine appealed to the president to support Ukraine's course toward European integration.
The archbishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP), Yevstratiy (Zoria), said: “Citizens who are holding peaceful actions, defending their views, must keep their actions peaceful, must not be provoked into using violence, and must use their wisdom, and law enforcement officials and representatives of the state must allow citizens to peacefully express their position.”
The representatives All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations demand the president to urgently reform the Interior Ministry. In their statement, they state that they are outraged by the crimes committed by security forces, especially by the rape in Vradiyivka.
The representatives of the AUCCRO suggested to Minister Zakharchenko to establish a special council in the police ministry with representatives of religious organizations and churches in order to restore confidence in the police.
Mykhailo Panochko, head of the Pentecostals, emphasized that the problem of our security agencies is that they are inwardly rotten, rusted, so the clergy would like to help, to advise, to give a hand.
According to Fr. Oleksa Petriv of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, steps must be taken to reform law enforcement agencies in order to change the principles of the police.