Two days in a row of fighting in Odesa over the dismantling of a memorial plaque in a park

For two days in a row, activists of an NGO have been involved in conflicts that ended in fights with the defenders of a memorial plaque in the Heroes of the Border Guards Park in Odesa.

According to the press service of the Main Department of Odesa Region, law enforcement officers have now registered in the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations information under Part 1 of Article 125 (light bodily harm) and Part 4 of Article 185 (theft) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine based on statements by two representatives of the NGO.

Law enforcement officers also drew up a report against the woman who damaged the sign for violating state standards, norms and rules in the field of landscaping, rules for landscaping of settlements (Article 152 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses).

According to the police, a conflict broke out over two days between representatives of a public organization who were trying to dismantle the plaque and local residents. On the first day, one citizen prevented the activists from tearing down the plaque, and as a result, they used gas spray on him. The police did not receive any statements or reports on this incident.

The following evening, the special line 102 received a report of a conflict between a group of people at the same address, which ended in a fight, the dismantling of the memorial plaque, and the disappearance of one of the participants in the incident's cell phone.

In her turn, the head of the NGO "Making You Nervous" Kateryna Musienko said that on the evening of May 18, when activists of her organization and the NGO "Decolonization. Ukraine" were dismantling the memorial plaques, they were attacked by unknown persons.

"One of the injured guys had multiple bruises and abrasions, a head cut, and the other had his iPhone stolen. And in all these circumstances, the police, when they arrived at the call about the attack, had more questions for dismantling Soviet symbols than for beating and stealing," she said.

The Heroes of the Border Guards Square in Odesa is located near the former Vympel cinema; the square was named after them in 2021.

Кирило Бойко