Report by the “OZON” civic observation group: The Results of Observations Made on December 9, 2013.

On December 9, 2013 the “OZON” civic observation group was monitoring the mass peaceful protest on Euromaidan in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Observation timeframe. A group of “OZON” civic observersincluding the independent observers from Belarus and Russia were conducting the observations from 14:00 (pm) to 0:50 (am).

Area under observation. The observations were conducted at Khreschatyk Street, Maidan Nezalezhnosti (The Independence Square), Yevropeiska Square, Mariyinsky Park, near the buildings of Presidential Administration, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Ukrainian Parliament, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Kyiv City Hall and the adjacent streets including Bohdana Khmelnytskogo Street, Prorizna Street, Kostiolna Street, Grushevskogo Street, Institutska Street, Akademika Bogomoltsa Street, Sadova Street, Shovkovichna Street, Lypska Street, Kryposniy Alley, Bankova Street, Luteranska Street, Kruglouniversytetska Street, Darvyna Street and Kozlovskogo Allley.

Presence of the law enforcement troops. Over the period of observation the civic observation group has recorded presence of internal forces troops reporting to central administration of Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Kyiv, riot police (Berkut) and troops of Traffic Police. Overall 7 truck of brand ZIL, 27 civic buses and 1170 troops blocked the streets and pushed the protesters out of the so called government district. Moreover, tractor, as well as fire brigade equipment and troops were used.

Rivaling protesters. A civil gathering of supporters of the government and President of Ukraine took place at the Konstytutsiyi Square near the building of Ukrainian Parliament. Estimation of the total number of participants was impeded by restricted entrance and selective admittance to the main venue of the protest - Konstytutsiyi Square near Ukrainian Parliament. Symbols and general rhetoric remained unchanged compared to the previous day. The protesters held flags of Partiya Rehioniv (Party of Regions) and the signs indicating different regions of Ukraine. The speeches delivered included elements of hate rhetoric. The security of the protest was carried out by law enforcement officers. There were no conflicts recorded between the protesters from two opposing protests.

General event overview. Euromaidan protest was exclusively peaceful. It is necessary to underline high degree of self-organization of the protest participants, among which the most notable groups as on the previous day were self-defense groups and medical patrols.

The peaceful nature of the gathering was underlined by speakers through numerous calls to avoid provocations, adhere to peaceful behavior, urging to detain and pass on to police everyone who violate public order and peaceful nature of the protest.

The gathering took place in the central part of the city. The majority of protesters remained on Maidan Nezalezhnosty (The Independence Square) and Khrestchatic Street. Some protesters occupied Lyuteranska Street; Grushevska Street; the intersection of Institutska Street and Kriposniy Alley; intersection of Shovkovichna Street and Akademika Bogomoltsa Street; intersection of Shovkovychna Street and Instytutska Street; and intersection of Bankova Street and Instytutska Street. Some individual protesters occupied other streets.

Among the symbols used by protesters were flags of Ukraine, EU, political Ukrainian Platform, Democratic Alliance, Svoboda All-Ukrainian Association, Udar, and Batkivschyna.

During the rally the protesters used the following slogans: “Shame on you”, “Glory to the heroes”, “Glory to the heroes – death to the enemies”, “Glory to Ukraine”, “Glory to the heroes” and “Away with the convict”. These and other slogans didn’t include any calls for violence against specific people, damage of property or other unlawful actions.

Risks of confrontation between the two rival protests. There were no forceful confrontations between the participants of the rival protests. The security of the rival protest was ensured by the police. Both protests were peaceful in nature with no signs of aggressive behavior on behalf of the protesters.

Overview of the law enforcement actions. As on the previous day law enforcement officers were mostly concentrated near the administrative buildings, apart from the Kyiv City Hall. They were also ensuring security of the residential buildings on Lyuteranska Street, Shovkovichna Street and Instytutska Street. Throughout the day internal forces troops reporting to central administration of Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Kyiv and riot police (Berkut) blocked street adjacent to Maidan Nezalezhnosti and Khreschatyk Street, as well as the in the government district. Two-way traffic for pedestrians was permitted on some streets.

On the night from 9^th to 10^th of December police has forced the protesters of Euromaidan to leave Lyuteranska Street; Grushevska Street; the intersection of Instytutska Street and Kriposniy Alley; intersection of Shovkovichna Street and Akademika Bogomoltsa Street; intersection of Shovkovichna Street and Instytutska Street; intersection of Bankova Street and Instytutska Street and government district as a whole.

Law violations conducted by the law enforcement officers. The “OZON” civil society observers recorded the fact of abuse of internal forces troops by the senior police commanders: it has been observed that at 14:20 on the Evropeyskaya Square – intersection of Khrestchatik and Tryokhsvyatitelskaya Street – the street was blocked by 2 buses of PAZ brand and 2 trucks of brand ZIL (license plate: 0547 Ф4 and 0578 Ф4). Internal forces troops were seated in the back of these trucks with no heating while their commanders remained in the heated cabins of the trucks. We consider it unacceptable to keep law enforcement troops in the unheated trucks during the winter period.

Human rights violations. Special attention should be paid to the unjustified restriction of the freedom of peaceful gatherings by police. This has been specifically evident when the police not only removed the tents and strongholds of the protesters, but also pushed the protesters out of the government district limiting their lawful right to pass their claims to the relevant decision makers.

For example, Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly (built on the principles of the right to peaceful assembly in the OSCE region countries based on decisions of the ECHR) stress that public meetings are conducted to bring the ideas and messages to the attention of a specific person, group or organization. Therefore, the general rule is that we should promote meetings within "sight and earshot" of their target audience (Section 3.5.).

Medical care. The observers recorded that the emergency medical care brigades were on duty at all times in places of mass people gathering.

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