Protesters were reportedly excited to become CNN B-roll footage.
After police intervention at a peaceful protest in Kiev, Ukraine last Thursday, protesters began rioting, turning over cars, injuring police officers, and wreaking other interesting and newsworthy havoc.
For the past several months the Ukrainian government has been turning power over to Russian backed separatists, raising tensions between the current administration and Ukrainian Nationalists. Opposition has been generally quiet and diplomatic up until recent weeks, which have been characterized as rowdy, disruptive, and even vaguely interesting to the average news consumer.
In a recent interview, foreign affairs expert Mary Reckhammer told reporters that in the upcoming weeks we can expect increased agitation, and the potential for larger riots.
“We might even get a few gunshots or a bombing,” Reckhammer stated. “I’m hoping for at least more than people just throwing rocks or some tear gas at police. Don’t get me wrong, that’s alright for them, but they really have a lot more they could be doing here.”
Reckhammer further explained that, while it remains unclear whether the violence was in direct response to police brutality, it is evident that the fires set by protesters were attention grabbing and that the photos taken on scene were “quite provocative.”
Since the first violent outburst, the death toll has risen to 19 and the number of injured persons has reached 328, a total large enough to make garner some interest from American news outlets.
“We’re very happy to see that our rally has gotten us some attention from the foreign press,” said Andrej Bolkovic. “As regrettable as it would would be for these atrocities to continue, I would love to be a featured guest on the O’Reilly Factor.”
Sources on the ground have reported that, while an assassination seems unlikely, it would certainly be fascinating to hear about.
