Dnipropetrovsk Prohibits Protest Against Visit of Patriarch Kirill

The Executive Committee of the City Council of Dnipropetrovsk in eastern Ukraine did not permit the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Organization of the Ukrainian People's Party to organize a picket against the meeting of Patriarch Kirill, who is to visit the city on July 24-25, reported the head of the city organization of the party, Anatolii Skorynskyi, to Radio Svoboda.

The regional party organization called the document prohibiting the action an "antidemocratic and unlawful decision."

According to the party members, one of the arguments of the authorities that mass events in Dnipropetrovsk can be organized only in one place – Globa's Park – provokes a lot of criticism as this decision of the executive committee has been cancelled by court and the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Several political forces and public organizations earlier stated that they would organize pickets in Dnipropetrovsk together with the Orthodox of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate.