Poroshenko Booed at Kiev’s Maidan During Ceremony Commemorating Protests

People who had gathered at the Maidan square met the Ukrainian president with whistles and shouted “shame”.

KIEV (Sputnik) — Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was booed when he arrived at Kiev’s Independence Square, or Maidan Nezalezhnosti, to take part in a ceremony commemorating the victims of last winter’s deadly protests, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported Friday.

People who had gathered at the central square met the president with whistles and shouted “shame”, according to the correspondent.

In his Friday speech at Maidan, Poroshenko said that 2015 would be “decisive for the start of fundamental changes in the construction of a new state” and said he was confident that Ukraine would “live in peace, develop and move in its chosen European direction.”

The Ukrainian president added that European leaders would visit Kiev on February 24 to commemorate the victims of the Maidan protests.

A political crisis erupted in Ukraine in November 2013, when the country's authorities announced a halt to its European integration process. Major protests began in Kiev's central square and soon spread across the country.

More than 100 civilians were killed in clashes with law enforcement during the months-long protests, while hundreds were injured, according to official estimates.

The Ukrainian leader was also booed in November last year, when he laid flowers by the cross set up in memory of the civilians killed at Maidan.