In no other country of the world coronavirus has had such “side effect” as in Ukraine.
The evacuation of Ukrainians from the epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic turned into a fierce confrontation. Panic fear forced citizens with weapons in their hands to meet their rescued compatriots to chase them away.
The small village of Novy Sanzhary in the Poltava region of Ukraine became known all over the world. On the anniversary of the tragic events of Euromaydan, here, as in Kiev six years ago, tyres were burned and barricades were built. Local residents tried to prevent the Ukrainians evacuated from Wuhan from being accommodated in the local sanatorium.
“Hundreds of protesters came out against the return of their compatriots from China, afraid of being infected with a new coronavirus. Some of them were armed with armature. People were throwing stones. Hundreds of law enforcement officers had to be sent to calm them down. The locals barricaded the road that leads to the quarantine”, – reports Der Spiegel.
The American edition of The New York Times also drew attention to the consequences of the beating in New Sanjar.
“As a result of the confrontation, some of the protesters, as well as law enforcement officials, were lying wounded on the ground. At least two buses carrying the evacuees had broken windows”, – media reported, noting distrust of the government and the destroyed health care system in recent years.
British The Guardian pointed out that the demonstrators, who looked drunk, rushed to hundreds of SWAT fighters, and one of the protesters even stormed the cordon in his own car.
“Godforsaken village, where only 8 thousand people live in the central part of Ukraine, became a hot spot on February 20, when local protesters opposed the police and blocked the roads, trying not to let the evacuated from China into the local sanatorium”, – this is how one of the most authoritative publications in the world “Forbes” wrote about what is happening.
The British edition of “Express” called what happened “coronavirus chaos”. Talking about the clashes, pogroms and victims, it reminded about the recent measles epidemic, which swept over Ukraine. Nevertheless, the position of the protesters caused journalists to be perplexed. In particular, they drew attention to the proposal to send rescued Ukrainians to the parliament building or the presidential residence “if he really believes that there is no danger”.
“Ukraine has a low level of confidence in medicine and the authorities. This led to the fact that panic over a possible outbreak [of an epidemic] spread as quickly as the fake news that the first sick people were identified in the country”, – the publication of the American portal BuzzFeed said. The scandalous cases of threats to evacuees were also mentioned here.
The Chinese mass media also covered what was happening in Ukraine. The South China Morning Post wrote that “protesters in Ukraine provoked violence by trying not to let the evacuated from the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak”.
As News Front reported earlier, 24 of the most violent protesters were detained by law enforcers as a result of fierce clashes. To date, 23 of them have already been released. At the same time law enforcers are guarding the sanatorium, where the evacuees from Wuhan were taken. Poe and