KIEV, ukraine — Demonstrators on the main downtown avenue of Ukraine’s capital set piles of tires ablaze Saturday to protest authorities’ call to end the encampment that began six months ago.
A few hundred yards away, workers in hard hats cleared debris from torn-down barricades.
The contrasting scenes on Kreshchatik Street in Kiev highlighted one of the many uncertainties facing Ukraine. Even after the election May 25 for a president to replace the interim leader who took power amid chaos in February, many Ukrainians remain suspicious of the government, and several hundred are holding out at a vast protest camp.
The holdouts say they want to keep up the encampment until the new government and President-elect Petro Poroshenko carry out important reforms.
“Personally, I have no plans to leave. They need to show the people that the new laws are working — they’re where they are thanks to us,” said demonstrator Anna Chaikovska, from the Rivna region.
Newly elected Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko, the former world heavyweight boxing champion, has called on the demonstrators to fold up their tents and go home. But aside from removing some of the barricades, authorities have taken little action.
In Ukraine’s east, where separatists have declared two provinces independent and are fighting government forces, many are suspicious of the Kiev demonstrations.
On Saturday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry criticized a suggestion by an official from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that it could withdraw its observer mission from Ukraine because of safety concerns, as shooting between government troops and pro-Russian rebels continued in the region.
