Anti-govt protesters march towards parliament, opposition politicians comment

Описание: (6 Feb 2014) About two-thousand anti-government protesters marched to Ukraine's parliament in Kiev on Thursday, before returning to their protest camp at Independence Square.
They said their peaceful march was intended to urge lawmakers find a resolution to the political crisis that has gripped the country for more than two months.
They marched towards the parliament building carrying a huge banner reading "We are tired of waiting".
Many wore helmets and carried shields and batons, with some saying they were ready to resume clashes with police if parliament's inaction continued.
Riot police monitored Thursday's march.
One man, who described himself as a "commander", said protesters were trying to persuade the police to lower their own shields and batons.
"That would be a peaceful attitude towards us, but they are not doing it and that's why we are standing on their route making sure that they don't beat anybody up," he said.
The protesters have built a large tent camp in the central square of Kiev, the capital, and have erected high barricades of snow and scrap materials to cut off key downtown sections.
An uneasy truce between police and protesters has held since late January after the protests erupted into four days of violent clashes.
Thursday's march to the parliament and back comes amid growing frustration over parliament's failure to enact constitutional reforms and an amnesty for protesters.
"I came here to protest against the crimes of the government, and we are all fed up with it," said one protester.
The legislature met three days this week, but produced no results and on Thursday adjourned until next week.
Vitaly Klitschko, the leader of the Udar party, said he and other opposition leaders had a "precise position" following Thursday's parliamentary session.
"We must immediately bring back the constitution of 2004. The constitutional court must cancel its illegal decision made three years ago and only after that can we sit down and speak out the new variant of the constitution," he explained.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the leader of the opposition Fatherland party, said he had prepared a bill that would lead to the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych and
"provide people with the right to rule their country".
But he said that his opponents had said they weren't ready to vote for the bill. "Nobody knows how much additional time they need for that," he added.
Oleh Tyahnybok, the leader of the nationalist Svoboda party, said his party wanted to find a "very constructive" resolution to the crisis.
The crisis began in late November, when Yanukovych backed off from an expected agreement to deepen economic relations with the EU, fearing that the bloc was not offering an adequate cushion for the trade that could be lost with Russia, which wanted Ukraine to join a Moscow-led customs union.
Yanukovych subsequently obtained a 15 billion US dollar aid package from Russian President Vladimir Putin, including getting lower gas prices from Russia.
The turn towards Moscow angered those who resent the long shadow that Russia casts on Ukraine.
The protests began on that note but have since morphed into demands for more human rights, less corruption, Yanukovych's resignation and a new election.

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