| Opposition YTB calls for protests, lawsuits against gas price rise |
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| Friday, 13 August 2010 14:31 |
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The opposition Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc has urged Ukrainian citizens to protest against the latest 50-per-cent increase in household gas prices and plans to increase them further - a call that has been criticized as provocative by the pro-presidential Party of Regions.
On August 12 the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN quoted the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc as saying in a statement that "the authorities have no right to introduce market household gas prices during the financial crisis, when the income of our citizens is much lower than in neighbouring European states". It said that people should file lawsuits against the recent decision by the National Commission for Energy Regulation to raise the prices and invited all those affected by the increase to take part in a rally close to the parliamentary building on September 7, the day when Parliament reconvenes after its summer recess.
"The authorities are afraid of our unity. Together we will force them to take the interests of citizens into account and will not let them rob the state and the people," the bloc said. Meanwhile, Party of Regions MP Volodymyr Rybak criticized the statement, accusing Tymoshenko, the previous prime minister, of stirring social unrest, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported later the same day. "She does everything the other way round. She needs protests, disturbances, alarm and discontent," Rybak was quoted as saying. He added that Tymoshenko's calls were "revenge for her defeat" at the 2010 presidential election.
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