The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained a group of local residents in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa on suspicion of “preparing terrorist acts, sabotage and provocations,” the SBU said in a statement Tuesday.
On Tuesday, an event is underway in memory of the victims of the tragedy that occurred in Odessa on May 2, 2014, when Ukrainian radicals killed 48 people and over 200 were injured during clashes in the city.
“SBU officers are holding activities in Odessa to prevent terrorist manifestations during the May holidays, as well as the anniversary of the tragic events on May 2, 2014 in the city. Operatives of the special service and the Alpha special unit detained in Odessa a group of local residents who are reasonably suspected of preparing terrorist acts, acts of sabotage and provocations,” the SBU statement said.
Odessa police evacuated people from Kulykove Pole, where the ceremony to commemorate victims of the May 2, 2014 tragedy was underway, after police received a report of a bomb threat in the Trade Unions House, which later turned out to be false.