Press release

For the immediate release

Contact: Olha Bondarenko

+31 641 432 890

November 23^rd 2004, The Hague, the Netherlands

On Wednesday, November 24th the protest manifestation took place in front of the embassy of Ukraine in The Hague, the Netherlands. About 100 Ukrainians came to show the solidarity with their compatriots in Ukraine who went on the streets protesting against the falsification of the result of the presidential election.

The demonstration went on in a peaceful way. People held flags of Ukraine and wore orange clothes in support of the leader of the opposition Viktor Yushchenko, who chose orange as color of his party.

Demonstrates were also singing Ukrainian patriotic songs and national anthem. The slogans they shouted were on support of the democracy and freedom of choice in Ukraine, they protested against the fraudulent elections, and also objected to the intervention of Russia into the Ukrainian internal politics.

Ukrainians called for the ambassador Dmytro Markov to show up and explain the situation in Ukraine from the point of view of officials. Mr. Markov did not come, however, the delegates were given a chance to meet the consul, Olexandr Gromov who came out of the door of the embassy. They passed to Mr. Gromov the letter signed by the Ukrainian citizens living in the Netherlands. In the letter Ukrainians asked the officials to express clearly their point of view on the situation in Ukraine and to object to the falsification of the results of the presidential elections.

The second round of the presidential election in Ukraine took place 21st of November. Monday 22^nd the central electoral commission has unofficially announced Mr. Yanukovych, the current Prime Minister, as a winner. However, the international and domestic observers reported an enormous number of irregularities during the election and suggested that the voting did not fit the democratic norms. The oppositional candidate Viktor Yushchenko encouraged people to go on the streets to protest against the fraud.

The political situation in Ukraine remains tense. The government does not seem to be able to negotiate with the opposition about the ways to solve the conflict. Thousands of people keep protesting against brutal violation of their democratic rights.