A week ago a Unity March was announced to be held today. There were never any major problems with marches held by either side in Odessa so we didn't expect much trouble.
And yes, we had this football match between the local team and folks from Kharkov today. Fans of both teams, though historically unfriendly to each other, agreed to strike a truce and join the march to show their patriotic views.
Pro-Russian fighters attacked the column on one of the central streets of the city. At first it was a chaotic brawl, but ultras organized quickly and drove pro-Russian fighters into a corner. They quickly raised make-shift barricades. Both sides flinged stones at each other, police arrived and tried to drive pro-Ukrainian folks away. Which went fairly well at at first.
Then pro-Russian terrorists opened fire. At least three people were shot to death, many more wounded. At this point patriots went into frenzy and charged. A mini-bus with Donetsk number plates was seized in the process, loaded with bullets and pyrotechnics. The crowd really started going berserk and the only reason terrorists were not stomped into the ground was our reluctance to harm policemen who dashed in to usher the terrorists away.
Unexpectedly there was an official announcement from regional prosecutor's office.
"EVERY ACTION PERFORMED BY CITIZENS TO NEUTRALIZE ARMED TERRORISTS WILL BE CONSIDERED LEGAL."
That's when I realized **** will hit the fan big time.
The crowd then went on to tear down the terrorists' camp. The tents were burnt down. Their denizens retreated into a nearby building, which you can see on the photo, provided by trueten. Folks tried to storm the building but the terrorists started firing from the windows. They had numerous handguns and at least one AK. Several more people were shot to death, many were wounded.
More people arrived and the first floor was taken. People were dragged out and beaten. Some were just let go (mostly women). Then suddenly a fire started. I have no idea how it started but I think it started on several floors at once. Upper floors were unharmed and there are still armed terrorists holed up there.
The crowd recoiled. When people started jumping out of the windows the crowd dragged sofas and scaffolds under the windows to not let them die. Still at least several jumped to their death.
That's when police and firefighters arrived. Those who were saved from the fire were handed into police custody.
Still many people inside the building died from asphyxiation or burns. There is no confirmed number yet, but it's at least a dozen, most probably twice as much. Information that they were from Russia or Transnistria is also unconfirmed.
In any case, triumph quickly turned into a tragedy.
Russian media already attributed the deaths to Right Sector.
And yes, we had this football match between the local team and folks from Kharkov today. Fans of both teams, though historically unfriendly to each other, agreed to strike a truce and join the march to show their patriotic views.
Pro-Russian fighters attacked the column on one of the central streets of the city. At first it was a chaotic brawl, but ultras organized quickly and drove pro-Russian fighters into a corner. They quickly raised make-shift barricades. Both sides flinged stones at each other, police arrived and tried to drive pro-Ukrainian folks away. Which went fairly well at at first.
Then pro-Russian terrorists opened fire. At least three people were shot to death, many more wounded. At this point patriots went into frenzy and charged. A mini-bus with Donetsk number plates was seized in the process, loaded with bullets and pyrotechnics. The crowd really started going berserk and the only reason terrorists were not stomped into the ground was our reluctance to harm policemen who dashed in to usher the terrorists away.
Unexpectedly there was an official announcement from regional prosecutor's office.
"EVERY ACTION PERFORMED BY CITIZENS TO NEUTRALIZE ARMED TERRORISTS WILL BE CONSIDERED LEGAL."
That's when I realized **** will hit the fan big time.
The crowd then went on to tear down the terrorists' camp. The tents were burnt down. Their denizens retreated into a nearby building, which you can see on the photo, provided by trueten. Folks tried to storm the building but the terrorists started firing from the windows. They had numerous handguns and at least one AK. Several more people were shot to death, many were wounded.
More people arrived and the first floor was taken. People were dragged out and beaten. Some were just let go (mostly women). Then suddenly a fire started. I have no idea how it started but I think it started on several floors at once. Upper floors were unharmed and there are still armed terrorists holed up there.
The crowd recoiled. When people started jumping out of the windows the crowd dragged sofas and scaffolds under the windows to not let them die. Still at least several jumped to their death.
That's when police and firefighters arrived. Those who were saved from the fire were handed into police custody.
Still many people inside the building died from asphyxiation or burns. There is no confirmed number yet, but it's at least a dozen, most probably twice as much. Information that they were from Russia or Transnistria is also unconfirmed.
In any case, triumph quickly turned into a tragedy.
Russian media already attributed the deaths to Right Sector.
