Azarov demands accreditation of journalists be canceled for protest during government meeting
Journalists organized a protest at a Cabinet of Ministers meeting on Wednesday demanding the dismissal of Ukrainian Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko, but Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, in turn, demanded that their accreditation be canceled.
An Interfax-Ukraine reporter said that when the prime minister arrived for the government meeting, several journalists from various media turned their backs on him, with signs reading "Today journalists, tomorrow your daughter, sister, and wife" and the demand that he dismiss the interior minister.
Azarov in response demanded that the accreditation of journalists who staged the protest be canceled.
"We respect the work of journalists, but don't turn the work of the Cabinet of Ministers into a farce. You have the right to appeal to the government. But such actions are a sign of the level of our journalism," he said.
As reported, a conflict erupted between representatives of the opposition and a group of unidentified men on Velyka Zhytomyrska Street in Kyiv at about 1420 on May 18, which later turned into a brawl. The young men began throwing water bottles and stones.
Several people, including Channel 5 journalist Olha Snitsarchuk and Kommersant photographer Vlad Sodel, were injured in the incident.
The scuffle took place during the opposition's Rise Up, Ukraine! campaign (on Sofiyska Square) and a Party of Regions rally (on European Square). The incident occurred outside the building of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's office in Kyiv.
On May 20, it was reported that the leadership of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's main office in Kyiv had ordered an internal investigation regarding the inaction of law enforcement officers during the incident on Velyka Zhytomyrska Street on May 18.
On May 21, the media liaisons office of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry reported that a suspect in the beating of journalists had been detained.
In addition, Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko said that the police had reclassified the investigation into the May 18 incident from "causing minor injuries" of Part 1, Article 121 to "hooliganism" of Part 2, Article 296 of the Criminal Code.
