Pro-Russian activists clash with Crimean Tatars outside local parliament building скачать в хорошем качестве

Pro-Russian activists clash with Crimean Tatars outside local parliament building

(26 Feb 2014) Police struggled to keep apart rival groups holding competing rallies on Wednesday in Ukraine's largely pro-Russian Crimea region. The regional parliament in the Crimean city of Simferopol was to hold a crisis session on the turmoil that has gripped the country. More than 10-thousand Muslim Crimean Tatars rallied in support of Ukraine's interim leaders, and chanted "Ukraine is not Russia" and "god is great". Meanwhile pro-Russian demonstrators gathered at a smaller rally nearby and called for stronger ties with Russia. Police and leaders from both sides were struggling to keep the two groups apart, as protesters shouted and punched each other in ongoing scuffles. The tensions in Crimea - a peninsula jutting into the Black Sea that is a strategically critical region because it is home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet - highlight the divisions that run through Ukraine after months of protests that ultimately forced the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych to flee the capital, Kiev. It also underscores fears that the country's mainly Russian-speaking east will not recognise the legitimacy of the interim authorities. Crimean Tatars took an active part in the protest movement against Yanukovych and harbour deep resentment against the Kremlin, having been deported en masse on the orders of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin during the World War II. Zaif Sulayev, a supporter of Ukraine's interim government, told the Associated Press that fellow Crimean Tatars would "not let anyone make a decision about Crimea's status without our consent." The turmoil in Ukraine has raised concern that the country is facing a split between Russian-speaking regions, which include Yanukovych's home area in the east, and the Ukrainian-speaking west. "Crimea has to be a part of Russia," said Alexander, one pro-Russian activist on Wednesday. "It must always be a part of Russia. We have to restore justice," he added. "I am Crimean, I am watching what is happening in western Ukraine and I don't want my children, my sons to live on their knees," said Valentina Glipova, another pro-Moscow demonstrator. "I don't want people standing over me with weapons and I don't want to be forced to speak Ukrainian." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...