Police Detains 60 Members of Svoboda in Uman

Police in the eastern Ukrainian city of Uman detained approximately 60 members of the nationalist Svoboda association for an attempt to hold an action prohibited by court, Viktoria Kushnir, the head of the Department of Public Relations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, reported.

“They carried smoke boxes, slingshots and other means of attack,” said the official. She also added that the participants of the action carried anti-Semitic banners.

The participants of the action were detained.

UNIAN was informed by the press service of Svoboda that the detained persons are their members.

“Local residents complained to representatives of Svoboda about the brutal conduct of the religious tourists from Israel, the neglect by the Chasidim of elementary norms of behavior and rude treatment of the local Ukrainians,” reads the address.

“After the event, the participants were surrounded by the fighters of Berkut police who began to beat everyone including elderly people, children and women. The beaten persons were thrown into lorries and transported to the local police department,” noted the press service representatives.

According to the information available, deputy of the Kyivan Regional Council Andrii Illienko was injured in the clash with Berkut police. Also, two journalists, the head of the Kyiv press service of Svoboda, Kyryl Babentsov, and head of the Cherkasy press service, Yurii Botnar, were detained.

According to the latest reports, the police released all the members of Svoboda detained earlier, during the prohibited campaign Uman Without Chasidim, reported representatives of Svoboda.

TSN reports with reference to Svoboda representatives that all the 60 detained members of the party have been released.

According to them, all the detained wrote explanatory notes, some received court summons. The detained included minors. The head of the press service of the Cherkasy regional branch of Svoboda, Yurii Botnar, has also been released.

On September 26, one of the heads of the Cherkasy Department of Internal Affairs will report on the Sunday events at a press conference.