In Ptycha Village UOC-KP Supporters Beat Parishioners of the UOC. Police Take the Side of Violators

On December 18, around 9:00 a.m. members of the religious community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Ptycha village, Rivne region, tried to enter the church which belongs to them. However, representatives of the Kiev Patriarchate did not allow the rightful owners into the church. The UOJ journalist reports that the UOC parishioners were beaten with batons and suffered from non-lethal weapons used against them.

The parishioners of the UOC had on hand all the necessary documents and judgments of three courts, proving the ownership of the religious building. But the entrance to the church, which the activists of the Kiev Patriarchate illegally had been holding for over a month, was blocked by the representatives of the UOC-KP, armed with batons, bars and tear gas cans. 

While attempting to go to the church through the gate, the UOC parishioners were beaten by the representatives of the Kiev Patriarchate, who unleashed tear gas and started throwing firecrackers at them. Eyewitnesses claim that it was the Right Sector representatives who started the beating. Later they barricaded themselves in the church. 

Around 10.00 a.m. the police arrived at the place of the conflict. But, instead of protecting the interests of legitimate owners of the church and stopping the beating of peaceful worshipers, the law enforcers pushed the UOC believers back and established a cordon at the entrance to the church. Currently, all the approaches to it are blocked by armed supporters of the UOC-KP and the police.

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