Rally in occupied Donetsk against the Greek Catholic Church

On January 29 in Donetsk there was held a rally against "the destructive activities of a number of sectarian religious organisations, aimed at inciting inter-confessional conflict and the destabilisation of the situation in the People’s Republic of Donetsk".

Several hundred residents of Donetsk and other cities gathered outside the Greek Catholic church as according to them the Greek Catholic Church is one of the organisations that "bless the aggression of the regime in Kiev against the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics".

The protesters said that sects of all sorts were working against the Ukrainian citizens, inciting anti-Orthodox, anti-Russian phobias and hatred for the people of Donbass.

But as independent experts note since the activation of the Eastern Ukrainian separatist movements and the so-called declaration of Donetsk and Luhansk 'people's republic' (DNR, LNR), the Christians of eastern regions (except for Orthodox of Moscow Patriarchate) are increasingly becoming the victims of religious persecution from the authorities of the self-proclaimed republics. Number of Greek-Catholic, Catholic, Orthodox of Kyiv Patriarchate, and Protestant religious were detained, some held in captivity for many days. Four members of the Protestant denomination killed in Sloviansk.