Anti-government protesters have toppled the statue of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin in central Kiev amid huge protests in Ukraine.
A group of protesters dragged down and decapitated the landmark statue last night after hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to denounce the decision by President Viktor Yanukovych to turn away from Europe and align the former Soviet republic with Russia.
Critics say a Russian-led customs union could end Ukraine’s economic and political sovereignty and place it back under Moscow’s rule.
The opposition branded the demonstration in Kiev the “march of a million”, but the crowd fell short of that goal as some Ukrainians grew tired of the turmoil and others feared violence after riot police brutally beat demonstrators last weekend.
Opposition leaders, meanwhile, addressed the crowd with contradictory messages, underling the lack of a coherent plan among organisers.
In a letter read out by her daughter, jailed opposition leader and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko called for Mr Yanukovych’s ousting and rejected holding any negotiations with his government unless they entailed early elections. Ms Tymoshenko is in jail on abuse-of-office charges that western nations consider politically motivated by Mr Yanukovych’s government.
“Yanukovych has lost legitimacy as president . . . he is no longer the president of our state, he is a tyrant,” said Ms Tymoshenko. “Don’t give in, not a step back. Don’t give up. The future of Ukraine is in your hands.”
But on Saturday her ally, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, hinted that the opposition could sit down with the government for talks if Prime Minister Mykola Azarov’s Cabinet was dismissed.
World boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, another opposition leader, also called for Mr Yanukovych’s ousting and early presidential elections, even though there is no legal way to impeach him and virtually no chance that he would resign on his own.