Thousands in Kyiv demand resignation of Zelenskyy and his office’s chief

On the evening of December 1, central Kyiv was full of protests. Their organizers claimed the mass protests gathered 7,000 participants. Demands included the impeachment of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the resignation of the head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, and his deputies Ruslan Demchenko and Oleg Tatarov. The organizers of the event believe the officials need to be fired due to accusations of their alleged disruption of Ukraine's sting operation to lure and arrest dozens of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner PMC a year ago, many of whom fought against Ukraine in the ongoing war in the eastern regions. Zelenskyy and Yermak reject these accusations.

• Read also: Bellingcat finds Ukraine’s Wagner sting operation failed due to President’s Office interference

The rally was named “Protect Ukraine — stop the coup.” It hints at Zelenskyy’s statement during his 26 November press marathon, where he alleged a coup with the participation of oligarch Rinat Akhmetov was planned for 1 December. Activists say are not planning any coup but rather to stop Kremlin agents in offices who are allegedly responsible for the failure of several of Ukraine’s intelligence operations, including the failed Wagner operation. The protest was also timed to the anniversary of the events of 1 December 2013, when mass protests flooded central Kyiv in response to a harsh police crackdown on Euromaidan protesters during the previous night. The activists say they are neither sponsored by Russia nor by oligarch Akhmetov, as Zelenskyy claimed. The coordinator of the rally is the non-partisan Capitulation Resistance Movement while participants are dozens of organizations and political parties, both parliamentary and not parliamentary, including former President Poroshenko's European Solidarity, Voice, and Democratic Axe.

Now, before the protests, the police partially closed the government quarter, restricting the access by car and inspecting the personal belongings of participants at some entry points.

At the time of the beginning of the rally, 19:00, about 2,000 people gathered in front of the Independence Stele on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) and vul. Khreshchatyk, and more participants arrived in the next two hours.

The organizers had set up a stage and the sound equipment on the Maidan for participants to deliver their remarks.

At 21:00, the protesters marched to Bankova Street, where the President's Office is located, and tossed coins towards the building chanting calls to resign the president and his entourage.

The participants explained to an Ukrainska Pravda correspondent that hurling the coins was meant to help  Yermak and Zelenskyy "raise funds for tickets to Rostov," the Russian city to where fugitive President Yanukovych had fled back in 2014.

According to the organizers of the action, the coins were also a metaphorical response to Zelenskyy's accusations that a "paid coup d'etat" was planned in Ukraine on 1 December. Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during his "press marathon" that he had information about preparations for a coup attempt in Ukraine on 1-2 December.

Then the participants headed towards the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament).

The Capitulation Resistance Movement said that the rally kicked off the process of forming the United Opposition Coordinating Council. Also, they launched a termless campaign for Zelensky's resignation. The rally ended at about 22:00. Some protesters marched to Hrushevskoho Street, the place of the months-long confrontation between Euromaidan protesters and government police forces in late 2013 - early 2014.

During the protest actions in Kyiv, the police didn't record any violations of law and order.

Read also:

• Zelenskyy claims planned coup attempt, denies Yermak postponed Wagner operation, blames journalists
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• Angry father berates Zelenskyy for abandoning his wounded son in the war zone
• Shady agreements legitimizing Russia’s puppet “republics” likely signed in Minsk
• Mass protests in Kyiv against disarming Ukrainian army as part of new truce in Donbas
• Protesters across Ukraine call on Zelenskyy to stop capitulation policies (2020)
• Protests against Steinmeier’s formula spread in Ukraine, “movement against capitulation” founded (2019)