Barricade #21/11 Khreshchatyk
Protesters started working on Barricade #2 on the day when the Maidan Tent City came to life, December 1, 2013. Just a few days ago, on November 30, police forces brutally dispersed the protesters. The barricades were supposed to protect Maidan from any similar attempts from the police. Barricade #2 was one of the first ones erected. The first one, the Lvivska brama (Lviv gates), was blocking Instytutska Street (now known as the Alley of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes), right under the bridge.
At first, the barricades consisted of chaotically piledpu public welfare (benches, boards, wooden frames, parts of the soon-to-be Christmas tree, metal fencings, etc.). The protesters hung posters with their demands, banners, and flags on the sides of the barricades.
On the night of December 11, 2013, police forces tried to storm the Maidan, and partially ruined Barricade #2. However, immediately after the attack, protesters rebuilt the barricades.
Now the barricade looked like a snow pile, reinforced with construction bags, metal frames, metal mesh, and tires, decorated with flags and posters. A few days later, people brought barrels where guards could have fire to keep themselves warm, and a few hedgehogs (construction consisting of a few metal beams melt together) to protect the barricade from heavy machinery. Also, there was now a new line of defense – a high metal mesh fence with barbed wire on top. On the mesh, people placed a photo exhibition “Maidan. The Human factor”, dedicated to the Euromaidan and the people who created it.
On the evening of February 18, 2014, police forces made another attempt to destroy Maidan. Barricade #2 saw a victorious confrontation between police and Maidan protesters. The activists stopped two APCs with Molotov cocktails. The barricade turned into a firewall, which held back the advances of police forces.
In this confrontation, holding back the advances of police forces near Barricade #2, several Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred were killed or fatally injured: Volodymyr Boikiv, Andrii Chernenko, Viktor Orlenko, Volodymyr Kulchytskyi, Oleksandr Kapinos, Yurii Paskhalin, Yurii Sudorchuk, Dmytro Maksymov.
The protesters restored the Barricade #2 on the evening of February 20, 2014. By that time, it was no longer needed as a protective measure. The day full of tragedy, the last day of confrontation ended. The authorities fled.
How was it...
A memory from a participant of the events:
“We never had barricades – neither in 1991 nor during the Orange Revolution… And then a few people came running up and said: “Listen, let’s pile these shiels (street barriers against protesters, – Maidan Museum) together. People are coming, we don’t want a stampede. We have to move the shields somewhere anyway. And if they will try to storm the Maidan again… Let’s make barricades!” And so we started building the first barricade right there, on Khreshchatyk. People loved it. And then people organized into little groups, each working on their barricade”.
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Сontacts
National Memorial Complex of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes - Museum of the Revolution of Dignity 9 Lavrska Street, building 20, Kyiv, 01015
+38 044 229 40 13 maidanmuseum@gmail.comOur socials:
«Terra Dignitas AR»
It is the first attempt to "revive" the Kyiv Maidan of 2013-2014 and recreate the image and spirit of the historical events of the Revolution of Dignity by means of augmented reality.
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