page_title: 2014 Euromaidan regional state administration occupations
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: 2014 Euromaidan regional state administration occupations / Background
caption_attribution_description: Українська: Чернігівська обласна рада 27 січня 2014 року. Євромайдан. Обід.
context_page_description: As part of the Euromaidan movement, regional state administration buildings in various oblasts of Ukraine were occupied by activists, starting on 23 January 2014.
context_section_description: Ukraine became gripped by unrest since President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign an association agreement with the European Union on 21 November 2013. A widespread movement known as 'Euromaidan' demanded closer ties with the European Union, and the ousting of President Yanukovych. Significant support for the movement built in western Ukrainian oblasts as the severity of the unrest in Kiev grew. As a result, protesters in these regions began to seize control of the oblast governor's offices, known as regional state administration (RSA) buildings.
  By 27 January, ten of the country's twenty-seven RSAs had been overthrown, and others had come under threat.
  Occupiers later relinquished control of the buildings, to meet the terms of a legal amnesty for Euromaidan protesters that came into effect on 17 February, as directed by the government of Ukraine. The day after the amnesty came into effect, protesters seized control of the buildings they had previously vacated in response to a crackdown on demonstrations on the Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kiev by the Berkut special police force.
  After the Euromaidan movement was successful in overthrowing the government of Victor Yanukovych on 22 February, RSA occupations by Euromaidan activists gradually ceased. Opposition to the Euromaidan in largely Russophone eastern and southern Ukraine, however, led to protests by pro-Russian and anti-government groups in those regions. Protesters there quickly began to attempt to occupy RSA buildings in a similar manner.
caption: Occupiers at Chernihiv RSA on 27 January
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