KIEV, Nov. 29 (PNA/Xinhua) — Several thousand people on Thursday continued rallying in Kiev, capital of Ukraine, and other major Ukrainian cities when the Eastern Partnership Summit of the European Union opened in Lithuania’s Vilnius in the same day.
The demonstrators, ranging from students to pensioners, are demanding that Ukrainian authorities sign a key agreement with the 28-member bloc during the two-day meeting held in Vilnius, considered as a vital move to a new level of cooperation between Kiev and Brussels in the years ahead.
In Kiev, people gathered on the Independence Square despite freezing weather, warming themselves by listening to music, singing patriotic songs and chanting pro-European slogans. Around 3,000 university students assembled together in downtown Shevchenko Park at around 4 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) before marching towards the Square, the main site of the protests.
The Ukrainian government said last week it had suspended preparations for the signing of the association agreement with the EU during the Vilnius summit, seen as a first step toward EU membership, and would form a tripartite trade commission with Russia and the EU instead.
The announcement of the decision has since triggered waves of protests across Ukraine among Ukrainians who support European integration.(PNA/Xinhua)