The former governor of Odesa region, Mikheil Saakashvili, said the authorities are trying to stop him holding a mass rally scheduled to take place in Kyiv on Nov. 27.
“The Last Winter With This Parliament is the title of our rally on Sunday. We want early elections to be called in line with the law. We want legal changes to let new blood enter the next parliament. When the authorities learnt of the forthcoming event this week, they started creating all kinds of impediments to us,” Saakashvili wrote on his Facebook page on Nov. 25.
Ukrainian security officers “called every carrier to stop people coming to the capital,” Saakashvili said.
“We are being told daily about provocation plots. Bankova [Bankova Street in Kyiv, the seat of the Ukrainian presidential administration] is trying to entirely discredit the street protest, under the guise of Plan Shatun [Rogue Bear]. They want to bring to our rally paid ‘Titushky’ [hugs hired by government as agents provocateurs] in order to show that our rally has been bought,” the politician said.
He also said he would “never stoop to participating in a paid-up rally.”
It was reported that on Nov. 7, 2016, Saakashvili announced his resignation as Odesa regional governor because he was tired of continuous lies and corruption, including on the part of the authorities in Kyiv, and on Nov. 9 the Ukrainian cabinet agreed to his dismissal.
On Nov. 19 Saakashvili announced the creation of New Force and the intention to conduct the movement’s open Council in Kyiv.
