UPDATE - About 1,000 Gather In Central Square In Kiev On 6th Anniversary Of Euromaidan Protests

KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2019) Some 1,000 people gathered on Thursday in the central Maidan square in Kiev on the sixth anniversary of the Euromaidan protests at the initiative of the organization, dubbed Movement of Resistance to Capitulation, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene.

On November 21, 2013, the protests broke out in the country as a result of the authorities' decision to halt the policy aimed at reaching an association agreement with the European Union. The mass demonstrations led to a coup culminating in the ousting of then Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych.

The rally is also dedicated to the 2004 Orange Revolution, when supporters of former President Viktor Yushchenko, the then-candidate from the opposition party at presidential elections, took to the streets, claiming that the election's results were fabricated.

People gathered in the central square and held flags of Ukraine and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (banned in Russia). The rally took place under the slogan "We have dignity". Some people also brought flowers and candles to the monument to those who died during the Euromaidan protests.

One of the members of the organization that initiated the rally read out the requirements for the authorities, including the cessation of the withdrawal of troops near Petrivske, non-provision of the special status within the country for regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and dismissal of several officials.

On November 9, both the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) militia and the Ukrainian security forces began the withdrawal of troops near Petrivske, with the process monitored by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The same day, the DPR announced that it had fully withdrawn its forces from the area. On Monday, the Ukrainian military said that it had also completed the practical phase of the troop pullout.

The withdrawal began when Kiev agreed to the Donbas peace plan called "the Steinmeier formula," which would see the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, collectively known as Donbas, gain special status within the country. The withdrawal began on the contact line at the villages of Zolote in Luhansk and Petrivske in Donetsk.