page_title: Euromaidan
section_title: Demands
hierarchical_section_title: Euromaidan / Demands
caption_attribution_description: The last day of Euromaidan on Friday
context_page_description: Euromaidan was a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on the night of 21 November 2013 with public protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kiev. The protests were sparked by the Ukrainian government's decision to suspend the signing of an association agreement with the European Union, instead choosing closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. The scope of the protests soon widened, with calls for the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych and his government. The protests were fueled by the perception of "widespread government corruption", "abuse of power", and "violation of human rights in Ukraine". Transparency International named President Yanukovych as the top example of corruption in the world. The situation escalated after the violent dispersal of protesters on 30 November, leading to many more protesters joining. The protests led to the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.
  During the Euromaidan, there were protests and clashes with police throughout Ukraine, especially at the Maidan in Kiev, which was occupied and barricaded by protesters, along with some administrative buildings, including Kiev City State Administration.
context_section_description: On 29 November, a formal resolution by protest organisers made the following demands.:
  The formation of a co-ordinating committee to communicate with the European community.
  A statement indicating that the president, parliament, and the Cabinet of Ministers aren't capable of carrying out a geopolitically strategic course of development for the state and demanding Yanukovych's resignation.
  The cessation of political repressions against EuroMaidan activists, students, civic activists and opposition leaders.
  The resolution stated that on 1 December, on the 22nd anniversary of Ukraine's independence referendum, that the group will gather at noon on Independence Square to announce their further course of action.
  After the forced police dispersal of all protesters from Maidan Nezalezhnosti on the night of 30 November, the dismissal of Minister of Internal Affairs Vitaliy Zakharchenko became one of the protesters' main demands.
  A petition to the US White House demanding sanctions against Viktor Yanukovych and Ukrainian government ministers gathered over 100,000 signatures in four days.
  Ukrainian students nationwide have also demanded the dismissal of Minister of Education Dmytro Tabachnyk.
  On 5 December, Batkivshchyna faction leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk stated,
  Our three demands to the Verkhovna Rada and the president remained unchanged: the resignation of the government; the release of all political prisoners, first and foremost; [the release of former Ukrainian Prime Minister] Yulia Tymoshenko; and [the release of] nine individuals [who were illegally convicted after being present at a rally on Bankova Street on December 1]; the suspension of all criminal cases; and the arrest of all Berkut officers who were involved in the illegal beating up of children on Maidan Nezalezhnosti.
  The opposition also demanded that the government resumed negotiations with the IMF for a loan that they saw as key to helping Ukraine "through economic troubles that have made Yanukovych lean toward Russia".
caption: Opposition leaders Vitali Klitschko, Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Oleh Tyahnybok, addressing demonstrators, 27 November 2013
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