Crowds topple Lenin's statue in Ukraine to protest Russia ties
- 10 years ago
ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
Crowds toppled a statue of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin in the Ukrainian capital and attacked it with hammers on Sunday, in the latest mass protests against President Viktor Yanukovich and his plans for closer ties with Russia.
Ukrainian opposition leaders told journalists in Kiev that they didn't order protesters to destroy the statue of the Russian communist revolutionary.
The statue's felling - a symbolic rejection of Moscow's power - came after opposition leaders told hundreds of thousands of demonstrators to keep up pressure on Yanukovich to sack his government.
Protesters broke up the statue with hammers after using ropes and metal bars to bring it crashing down.
The demonstrators are furious with the Yanukovich government for its decision to ditch a landmark pact with the European Union in favor of a trade deal with Moscow, Ukraine's Soviet-era overlord.
Crowds toppled a statue of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin in the Ukrainian capital and attacked it with hammers on Sunday, in the latest mass protests against President Viktor Yanukovich and his plans for closer ties with Russia.
Ukrainian opposition leaders told journalists in Kiev that they didn't order protesters to destroy the statue of the Russian communist revolutionary.
The statue's felling - a symbolic rejection of Moscow's power - came after opposition leaders told hundreds of thousands of demonstrators to keep up pressure on Yanukovich to sack his government.
Protesters broke up the statue with hammers after using ropes and metal bars to bring it crashing down.
The demonstrators are furious with the Yanukovich government for its decision to ditch a landmark pact with the European Union in favor of a trade deal with Moscow, Ukraine's Soviet-era overlord.