An incident occurred at Shevchenko Park in Kyiv, where public activists went for a rally on Friday. Around 40 people entered the park skipping the metal detectors and initiated a meeting near the monument of Taras Shevchenko.
It is on March 9 that the Ukrainian society marks the anniversary of Taras Shevchenko, the prominent poet and painter of the 19th century. Due to a number of solemn events involving leading officials, streets in the downtown Kyiv are temporarily closed, and public transport stops do not work properly - as a safety measure.
According to the local media, rally participants broke through the police cordon to keep the President Petro Poroshenko away from laying flowers to the monument of Shevchenko. Earlier on Friday morning, the police let in only accredited reporters and fellow law enforcers.
Currently, the park's perimeter is closed by the National Guard; all entrances are blocked.
Earlier, Mikheil Saakashvili's Movement of New Forces announced an anti-oligarch protest in Kyiv, urging those possessing registered firearms to join the rally.
