The Maidan

We had a rash of stories the day before yesterday about the 'clearing'of the Maidan. It looks as if those stories might be as true as everything else that comes out of Kiev

Kiev activists refuse to leave Maidan Square

People take part in a rally on Maidan Square in Ukraine’s capital city of Kiev on June 1, 2014.

Press TV,

1 June, 2014

Activists in the landmark Independence Square, also known as Maidan Square, in Ukraine's capital Kiev say they will not leave the area until their demands are met.

The activists, who organized the People’s Veche, the first assembly of people in Maidan in the last two months, passed a manifesto on Sunday saying, “Maidan will not be dissolved until all of its demands are met.”

The participants say the demands of the then anti-government “Maidan” movement, which led to the ouster of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych in February, have not been met.

The manifesto reportedly calls for changing the structure of Maidan, developing a system for dialogue with the authorities, and creating municipal police made up of Maidan activists.

The document was said to have secured the support of several dozen public organizations.

Kiev’s new mayor and former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko addressed the activists on Sunday, saying the movement’s demands have been met. He also urged the protesters to dismantle barricades in the Maidan and leave the area.

Kiev activists, who gathered to debate the near future of the movement in the city, however, challenged Klitschko’s claim and urged the government to release a report about its first one-hundred days in office.

Ukraine has been gripped by violence since November 2013, when Yanukovych refrained from signing an Association Agreement with the European Union (EU) in favor of closer ties with Russia.

On February 23, amid rising violence in Ukraine, the parliament ousted Yanukovych and named Oleksandr Turchynov, the legislature’s speaker, as interim president.