KIEV, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - At least five people carrying a symbolic tent to mark the eighth anniversary of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine were detained in Kiev for petty hooliganism, police said on Friday.
Opposition sources said six activists were detained after a brief clash with police forces in downtown Kiev.
The Coalition of Orange Revolution Participants organized a rally on Thursday to mark the Freedom Day, a holiday introduced in 2005 by then President Viktor Yushchenko to commemorate the Orange Revolution that brought him to power. In 2011, President Victor Yanukovych merged the Freedom Day with the Ukrainian Unity Day (Den Sobornosti), marked on January 22 and scrapped official November 22 celebrations.
The rally began at 20:00 Moscow time [16:00 GMT] at Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kiev and was attended by about 400 people, according to police.
The protestors brought a tent with them, a reference to hundreds of tents scattered around the square during the Orange Revolution, a series of protests in Ukraine in November 2004-January 2005 by those who refused to recognize the legitimacy of Yanukovych’s election victory.
Police said the activists, who failed to obtain a permission for setting up tents, decided to carry it in their hands instead and attempted to cross a busy central road, but were stopped by police.
