"Hoof-bearer" from Nizhyn details provocation against UOC

Stanislav Proshchenko, a participant in the attack on the сross procession of the UOC in Nizhyn. Photo: orthodox.cn.ua

The protesters did not block the procession and did not provoke conflicts – this is how Stanislav Proshchenko, one of the most active participants in the attack on the annual religious procession of the Nizhyn Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, dedicated to the memory of St. John of Tobolsk, described the events of June 23, 2021.

The activist, who rushed at the Orthodox cross-walkers with severed goat legs, explained in an interview with the “Religiyna Pravda”: the protesters demanded that the procession change its traditional route and not pass next to the monument to the heroes of the Heavenly Hundred and the dead ATO soldiers. The resource specified that near this monument, members of the community "Prayerful Maidan of Nizhyn" hold an "interfaith prayer" on Wednesdays.

According to Proshchenko, the protesters "did not block the route" and tried to negotiate with the police about a change of the route half an hour before the appearance of the cross-walkers.

“We were standing in the place where you could turn right and left. It was very convenient to go left, they would have just bypassed Gogol Park and returned to their church. It would have been a route of more than a kilometer, they would have made a circle, their religious procession, and that's all,” he said.

At the same time, the police did not help, but on the contrary – destroyed the "installation" of the activists, but even after that they "did not have such aggression to block the road to them (the cross procession – Ed.)", stressed Proshchenko. He didn’t see either how the cross-walkers were poured with urine (“’Cola’ was poured by the guys – whatever they had in their hands”), there is nothing wrong with the US flag brought by the protesters (“this is our biggest ally today, who helps in the fight against Muscovia”).

The conflict, he said, was provoked by the "titushki" (strong-built men – Trans.) who accompanied the procession. But there were no beatings of the mother of a deceased soldier by the cross-walkers, as the Ukrainian media reported, Stanislav Proshchenko admitted.

The fact that “the protesters behaved gently and with restraint”, the representative of the “Prayerful Maidan”, Protestant pastor Vladimir Leontyev, said to the edition.

“Because ahead of the procession – it was done in the Russian style – they placed the children. Therefore, the guys were very careful, they only held posters and shouted to the participants in the procession that they had to go to Moscow a different road,” he explained.

As reported, on June 23, Ukrainian "patriots" with US flags attacked the cross procession of the UOC in Nizhyn and provoked a fight. The most active participant in the attack was Stanislav Proshchenko, who defends the interests of the OCU in this region.

The UOC called on the international community to condemn the beating of believers in Nizhyn, and the Ukrainian authorities – to properly respond to the violation of the fundamental rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens.

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