Daily Stormer
January 18, 2014
![Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich.](/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Ukrainian-President-Viktor-Yanukovich.jpg)
From Reuters:
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich on Friday signed into force a set of tough new laws that would ban virtually all forms of anti-government protests despite an outcry from Western governments which have criticized them as anti-democratic.
The presidential website listed the laws, which were rushed through parliament by Yanukovich’s supporters on Thursday, and said: “The President signed the set of laws.”
Yanukovich triggered major pro-Europe rallies in the former Soviet republic when he walked away from signing a landmark free trade deal with the European Union in late November in favor of closer economic ties with Russia, Ukraine’s Soviet-era overlord.
These rallies rapidly spiraled into mass anti-government protests that brought hundreds of thousands on to the streets of the capital Kiev.
Several hundred protesters are still camped out in the main Independence Square and on the city’s main thoroughfare. Several hundred others are camped out 300 meters away in City Hall.
Heavy-handed action by riot police to break up the protests in December failed and brought condemnation from the United States and Europe.
The new laws ban any unauthorized installation of tents, stages or amplifiers – all features of the protests that play out day and night on Kiev’s Independence Square. People and organizations who provide facilities or equipment for such meetings will also be liable to a fine or detention.
The laws foresee prison terms of up to 15 years for “mass violation” of public order.