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Monday, January 27, 2014

Ukraine president ready to scrap anti-protest law

A protester guards the barricade in front of riot police in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 27, 2014. Ukraine’s justice minister is threatening to call for a state of emergency unless protesters leave her ministry building, which they occupied during the night. The seizure of the building early Monday underlined how anti-government demonstrators are increasingly willing to take dramatic action as they push for the president’s resignation and other concessions. Protesters now occupy four sizable buildings in downtown Kiev, including the city hall. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Protesters march in central Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 27, 2014. Ukraine’s justice minister is threatening to call for a state of emergency unless protesters leave her ministry building, which they occupied during the night. The seizure of the building early Monday underlined how anti-government demonstrators are increasingly willing to take dramatic action as they push for the president’s resignation and other concessions. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

A protester passes by a gate with a European flag atop it in central Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 27, 2014. Ukraine’s justice minister is threatening to call for a state of emergency unless protesters leave her ministry building, which they occupied during the night. The seizure of the building early Monday underlined how anti-government demonstrators are increasingly willing to take dramatic action as they push for the president’s resignation and other concessions. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Protesters attend a march in central Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 27, 2014. Ukraine’s justice minister is threatening to call for a state of emergency unless protesters leave her ministry building, which they occupied during the night. The seizure of the building early Monday underlined how anti-government demonstrators are increasingly willing to take dramatic action as they push for the president’s resignation and other concessions. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

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KIEV, Ukraine (AP) â€” Ukraine’s beleaguered president on Monday agreed to scrap harsh anti-protest laws that set off a wave of clashes between protesters and police over the past week, a potentially substantial concession to the opposition that stopped short of meeting all of its demands.

In a possibly major sticking point, a proposed amnesty for arrested protesters would not be offered unless demonstrators stopped occupying buildings and ended their round-the-clock protests and tent camp on Kiev’s central Independence Square, according to a statement by Justice Minister Elena Lukash on the presidential website.

President Viktor Yanukovych has been under increasing pressure since he pushed the tough laws through parliament, setting of clashes and protests in other parts of the country in a sharp escalation of tensions after weeks of mostly peaceful protests over his rejection of a deal to deepen ties with the 28-nation European Union.

At a meeting between top opposition figures and Yanukovych late Monday “a political decision was made on scrapping the laws of Jan. 16, which aroused much discussion,” Lukash said.

She made no mention of a key opposition demand â€” that Yanukovych resign.

One of the opposition figures, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, turned down the prime minister’s job, which Yanukovych had offered him on Saturday, the statement said.

Eliminating the laws, which is likely to be done in a special parliament session Tuesday, appears to be a serious step back for the government. The session is also expected to include a discussion of government responsibility in the crisis, suggesting a cabinet reshuffle could be imminent.

It was not immediately clear how the announcement would be received. On Independence Square, there was no immediate reaction from the relatively small crowd gathered in bitter cold near midnight.

A key issue will be the amnesty offer, which could allow for the release of dozens of protesters currently being held in jail in exchange for an end to the demonstrations.

The statement did not say the opposition would agree to those terms. Doing so could infuriate radical factions within the broad-based protest movement, such as the group called Right Sector that has driven much of the recent violence.

Several hours before the statement, Right Sector issued its own demands, which include punishing officials responsible for the deaths and abuse of protesters, disbanding Ukraine’s feared riot police and locating all missing opposition figures.

Protest leaders say scores of people have gone missing, presumably arrested.

Three protesters died in the clashes last week, two of whom were shot by hunting rifles, which police insist they do not use.

Protesters have been afraid that authorities were preparing to end the spreading demonstrations by force, but the foreign ministry said earlier the government has no immediate plans to declare a state of emergency.

With protesters now willing to risk injury, a state of emergency would be likely to set off substantial fighting on the streets of the capital.

“Today, such a measure is not on the table,” Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara told journalists.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement that she was alarmed by reports about the government considering a state of emergency and warned that such a move “would trigger a further downward spiral for Ukraine which would benefit no one.”

The protesters still occupy three sizable buildings in downtown Kiev, including City Hall. One of the buildings was seized in a spectacular assault early Sunday, when hundreds of protesters threw rocks and firebombs into the building where about 200 police were sheltering. The crowd eventually formed a corridor through which the police left.

Lukash, in a televised statement, noted that protesters seized the building as justice employees were working on the measures to grant amnesty to protesters.

The fears of a state of emergency come after other official statements suggesting the government is considering forceful moves against the protesters.

Interior Minister Vitali Zakharchenko, an official deeply despised by the protesters, on Saturday warned that demonstrators occupying buildings would be considered extremists and that force would be used against them if necessary. He also claimed demonstrators had seized two policemen and tortured them before letting them go, which the opposition denied.

The protests began in late November when Yanukovych shelved the EU deal and sought a bailout loan from Russia. The demonstrations grew in size and intensity after police violently dispersed two gatherings. Demonstrators then set up the large tent camp.

After Yanukovych approved the anti-protest laws, demonstrations spread, including to some cities in the Russian-speaking east, the base of Yanukovych’s support.

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Juergen Baetz contributed to this report from Brussels.

Associated Press

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Ukraine president ready to scrap anti-protest law

Ukraine president will scrap anti-protest law

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KIEV, Ukraine (AP) â€” Ukraine’s beleaguered president on Monday agreed to scrap harsh anti-protest laws that set off a wave of clashes between protesters and police over the past week.

In a statement on the presidential website, Justice Minister Elena Lukash said that in a meeting with top opposition figures and President Viktor Yanukovych on Monday night, “a political decision was made on scrapping the laws of Jan. 16, which aroused much discussion.”

Yanukovych pushed those laws through parliament. Three days later clashes with police broke out, a sharp escalation of tensions after weeks of mostly peaceful protests.

Eliminating the laws, which is likely to be done in a special parliament session Tuesday, would be a substantial concession to the opposition. But it does not meet all their demands, which include Yanukovych’s resignation.

One of the opposition figures, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, turned down the prime minister’s job, which Yanukovych offered him on Saturday.

At that time, he said protests would continue. In the Monday meeting, Yanukovych said a proposed amnesty for arrested protesters would not be offered unless demonstrators stopped occupying buildings and ended their round-the-clock protests and tent camp on Kiev’s central square.

Three protesters died in the clashes last week, two of whom were shot by hunting rifles, which police insist they do not use. With protesters now willing to risk injury, a state of emergency would be likely to set off substantial fighting on the streets of the capital.

“Today, such a measure is not on the table,” Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara told journalists.

Lukash, in a televised statement, noted that protesters seized the building as justice employees were working on measures to grant amnesty to protesters and to make changes in the constitution to restore more power to the prime minister.

It’s not clear if constitutional changes will be on the agenda for Tuesday’s parliamentary session, but granting more power to the prime minister could both sweeten the offer and allow Yanukovych to portray himself as offering genuine compromise.

The fears of a state of emergency come after other official statements suggesting the government is considering forceful moves against the protesters.

The protests began in late November when Yanukovych shelved a long-awaited agreement to deepen ties with the 28-nation European Union and sought a bailout loan from Russia. The demonstrations grew in size and intensity after police violently dispersed two gatherings. Demonstrators then set up a large tent camp on Kiev’s main square.

After Yanukovych approved the new anti-protest laws, demonstrations spread into other parts of the country, including to some cities in the Russian-speaking east, the base of Yanukovych’s support.

Juergen Baetz contributed to this report from Brussels.

Associated Press

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Ukraine president will scrap anti-protest law

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Rep. Steve King: Scrap Immigration Reform Until Obama is Gone

Congress should not address comprehensive immigration reform until there’s a new president of the United States, Rep. Steve King tells Newsmax TV.

“Congress does not have an obligation to resolve the issue of the 11 million to 33 million people who are here illegally,” King, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, tells Newsmax in an exclusive interview. “They came here on their own. They came here to live in the shadows.

“There’s no moral calling for us to solve the problem that they created for themselves,” he adds. “They can easily solve it just by returning to the country where they can live legally.”

The GOP-controlled House will hold a special conference on immigration on Wednesday. King forced the closed-door strategy session by obtaining signatures from fellow House members.

Story continues below the video.

Last month, King hosted a six-hour marathon news conference on Capitol Hill to protest the pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants that was included in the sweeping reform legislation later approved on a 68-32 vote by the Senate. The bill was sent to the House.

“I hope we get to this tomorrow in the special conference in such a way that members are in a position where they have to articulate their positions and they’ll listen to others,” King tells Newsmax of the strategy session. “If you legalize people that are here illegally, that means that it is a path to citizenship.

“Eventually, those folks that are rewarded with the objective of their crime will be voting,” he says. “They will have the measure of citizenship — and we can get to that piece, maybe we can understand then, as a group, that there’s nothing in this for Republicans, Independents, Americans.

“It isn’t good for the American people. The only people in America who are beneficiaries of such a policy would be elitists, political power-brokering Democrats and those who hire illegals. Other than that, there’s nothing in it for Americans.

“There’s no reason for us to do this — and we have no obligation, no moral obligation, to bring people out of the shadows,” King adds. “They came here to live in the shadows. I suggest we enforce the law we have and otherwise let them have what they came here for, which is to live in the shadows.”

The strategy session is to be led by House Speaker John Boehner, who has said he will not bring up the Senate’s immigration bill for a vote, given strong opposition among the Republican conference.

Boehner said on Monday that the House would develop its own immigration overhaul plan.

King hopes the Speaker honors his pledge.

“I’d like to take it off the table — and I’d like to see leadership make a statement that we’re not going to legalize people that are here illegally,” King tells Newsmax. “We’re going to take up the important business of the American people — and a lot of that is oversight over this Obama administration that refuses to enforce the law. That’s where we need to go. I want to restore the rule of law and I don’t want to grant amnesty.”

No matter how any possible immigration legislation might make it to the House floor — in pieces, as the Judiciary Committee supports, or as one comprehensive bill — King says it should not happen. “If it comes to the floor, it will be brought to the floor with the votes to pass it.”

He notes that the committee’s bill includes provisions for strong border security, empowering local governments to enforce immigration laws, for instance.

“Any vehicle that we send over to the Senate is potentially a conference-able bill — and if we send that over to the Senate, you know [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid can just put a little bit of language in there that guts it or actually strikes it all out, put in the Senate’s Gang of Eight amnesty bill and send it back to us or insist on a conference,” King suggests.

“There’s no reason for us to be vulnerable on losing the rule of law over the idea that the Senate’s never going to pass anything that fails to legalize people that have broken the law. The president’s not going to sign anything that doesn’t give him his political objective — and the president don’t enforce the law, so we cannot do business with a president who will not honor his own oath of office.”

King continued his attack on President Barack Obama over immigration, reflecting on recent developments on Obamacare.

“The president’s not going to enforce the law; he’s made that clear. Even with Obamacare — the bill with his own name on it and his own signature on it — he’s decided he can amend his own bill by simply sending a memo out posting it on a website.

“That’s appalling to me from a constitutional perspective,” King adds, “and I can’t do business with a man who is no more trustworthy than that.”

Newsmax – America

Rep. Steve King: Scrap Immigration Reform Until Obama is Gone