Although a sample of popular, many people laid flowers and lit candles Saturday in front of a building in the Ukrainian city of Odessa, where 48 people died a year ago in a fire set off during a fight between supporters and opponents of the government.
It started with clashes between two factions marched in the city and culminated in a union hall where supporters of autonomy for the east of the country, pro-Russian majority sought refuge.
Government supporters threw firebombs at the building, which caught fire. But official versions say that those who took refuge in the building may have been the cause of the fire by throwing firebombs turn from the ceiling against supporters of the central government. Inside the building, 43 people died.
A few thousand demonstrators gathered in the capital Kiev to commemorate the event, some with signs saying “We will not forget nor forgive.” Another ceremony was held in front of the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow.
Although the Ukrainian authorities blame the violence on government opponents, Russia and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine say that Ukraine came under the influence of nationalists after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, a supporter of Russia, fled the country the year last after months of demonstrations.
Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the separatist rebels in the region of Donetsk, Odessa attributed the deaths to “brutal Nazi mobs”.
“On this day, we and all the citizens of Odessa he understood that there is no longer a country called Ukraine. He has died for us, but also for dozens of residents tortured in Odessa,” he said.
Konstantin Dolgov, the human rights envoy of the Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the Ukrainian authorities to conduct “investigations to media” on violence.
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