KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th December, 2019) Ukrainian opposition parties gathered in the capital of Kiev on Sunday to remind President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the red lines they drew for him ahead of the Normandy-type Paris summit, a Sputnik correspondent said.
The leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine will talk at a summit on Monday about how to unblock peace process in Ukraine's east. Main Ukrainian opposition parties told Zelenskyy that Ukraine's unity was nonnegotiable after he promised more autonomy to the breakaway regions.
The Interior Ministry estimated that 8,000 people assembled in the central Independence Square in Kiev. They were holding up national colors, banners of the centrist European Solidarity and far-right Freedom parties as well as of a WWII nationalist paramilitary group.
Several police and ambulance cars lined the sidewalk but the protest was peaceful. Former President Petro Poroshenko, who joined the opposition after this year's electoral defeat, described the rally as an assembly of citizens concerned about Ukraine's security.
The ministry said that the demonstration went off without major violations of public order. A man was detained for a "minor offense." Media said that a protester threw eggs at Poroshenko as the country's former leader took to the podium to shout "Hail Ukraine!" into the microphone.
Another rally featuring some 2,000 people, according to police, began outside the presidential administration's building in Bankova Street as dark fell. Protesters said they would hold an all-night vigil. They tried to set up a tribune but the attempt was thwarted by gendarmes.
Oleh Tyahnybok, the leader of the Freedom Party, showed up at the demonstration on Sunday night to demand that President Zelenskyy immediately sever diplomatic ties and stop all trade with Russia.
