Sergei L. Loiko

Protests in Kiev, Ukraine turned violent when conflict sprung up with the police, and at least 77 protesters have died, the medics in Kiev say.

The protests started in November because the opposition wanted to separate from Russia and work with Europe instead. President Viktor Yanukovych, became an obstacle when he went against a trade pact with Europe, causing the opposition to not want him president anymore.

“There have been protests because the president of Ukraine backed out of a deal to join the EU and keep primary trade connections with Russia,” junior Arthur Derkach, Vice President of Amnesty International, said. “Recently, the protests turned violent and the protestors took over the presidential house.”

The opposition felt Yanukovych had too much power, and that Parliament did not have enough. Yanukovych said he would go back to the 2004 constitution, giving Parliament more power and have earlier elections, but then he fled, and so Parliament voted to oust Yanukovych.

According to junior, Nina Geers, Program Chair of Amnesty International, the corrupt government violated election laws and tried to scare people out of rioting, by using excessive force on protesters, so it could not have been prevented.

“Given the state of Ukraine and the level of corruption in the pre-protest government, something would have eventually set the same events in motion,” Derkach said.

With the unavoidable situation, Ukraine’s government has to figure out what comes next for their country, and how to handle their current position.

“Many people there are faithful to Soviet Russia and the rest are looking toward the future of the European Union. The country will have political turmoil for a while, but the people should be allowed to protest,” Geers said. “The police are hurting people so severely, yet their purpose should be to protect the people. Instead they are just following the unjust government.”

The police use violence to stop the protests, but Geers said they should allow protests and listen to their people in order to fix the problems.

“The best option for Ukraine would be to democratically elect a leader that does address their concerns and does it without corruption,” Derkach said. “Ukraine needs to become independent of Russia to start moving in the right direction in terms of coming back from this crisis.”

 The club, Amnesty International, writes letters to other countries’ governments, makes petition drives, and raises students’ awareness on political topics as part of its goal.

“In Amnesty [International] we have talked about [the situation in Ukraine], but in this transition period there isn’t much we can do to raise awareness or petition the government,” Derkach said.