Timoshenko supporters barred from meeting near court

KIEV, August 7 (Itar-Tass) -- A Kiev district court bans meetings near
the building of the Pechersk court, which ruled to arrest Ukrainian
ex-premier Yulia Timoshenko on Friday, Ukrainian media report.
The decision to prohibit meetings near the court was taken overnight.
The court did not say whether deputies were allowed to receive citizens at
the site, a member of Timoshenko's Bloc, Sergei Pashinsky noted,
commenting on the court decision.
"After the court announced the ruling, deputies asked the judge
whether they were right to understand that receiving of citizens was
allowed, but the judge in reply only re-read out the court ruling, which
said nothing about it," the legislator noted, adding that Timoshenko's
Bloc intended to continue the practice of receiving citizens near the
court.
Timoshenko is accused of the unlawful signing of contracts with Russia
in 2009 for gas supplies and doing damage to the state. According to the
indictment, the damage amounts to more than 1.5 billion hryvnas (dlrs
about 200 million).
A tent camp was set up near the court building overnight. The
ex-premier's supporters began an indefinitely-lasting action, pitching
about 30 tents on the pedestrian part of the capital's central Kreshchatik
Street. There are plaques on 20 tents indicating those are "Public
Reception Rooms" of opposition parliament members. Inscriptions on metal
fences near the tents read "the New Order -- the Entire Country Has Become
a Zone", "the Gang Has Got not Those", "When You are Thrown Away from the
Flat, It will be Already Late." Policemen are on duty near the tents.
The entrance to the yard of the court is blocked by an iron fence and
guarded by Griffon special-purpose unit members. Five buses with darkened
windows with the inscription "Honour Guard of the Ukrainian Interior
Ministry's Troops" stand along Khmelnitsky Street. Special-purpose unit
members are inside.
-0-pan