Saakashvili Supporters March In Kyiv
Thousands of people marched in the center of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on December 10 to demand the release of opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili from custody and to call for the impeachment or resignation of President Petro Poroshenko. The rally started at the city's Shevchenko Park, where some protesters displayed portraits of Ukrainian soldiers held captive by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
WATCH LIVE: Activists gather outside the detention center in Kyiv where Saakashvili is being held:
Russian Nationalists Disrupt Screening Of Film About Ukraine Conflict
By RFE/RL's Russian and Ukrainian services
Members of a Russian nationalist group have disrupted the screening in Moscow of a film about the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine.
The movie Bullet's Flight by director Beata Bubenets was due to be screened at the documentary film festival Artdocfest in the Oktyabr movie theater on December 10.
But reports said several individuals sprayed an acrid liquid in the hall, prompting an evacuation.
The leader of the South East Radical Block (SERB) movement, Igor Beketov, told the Interfax news agency that he was among three members of the group detained by police over the incident.
Law enforcement authorities have not commented.
Fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 10,000 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.
With reporting by Interfax
Ukrainian Opposition Demands Saakashvili's Release, Poroshenko Be Impeached
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- Ukrainian activists are marching through central Kyiv to demand the release of opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili from custody and to call for the impeachment of President Petro Poroshenko.
More than 2,000 people gathered at Kyiv’s Shevchenko Park on December 10 ahead of the march toward Independence Square -- the site of the monthslong 2013-14 protests that ousted former President Viktor Yanukoych.
Saakashvili's wife, Sandra, was among the participants.
After the rally, Saakashvili supporters planned to gather outside the detention center in Kyiv where the leader of the Movement of New Forces party is being held.
The former Georgian president was detained by Ukrainian authorities on December 8 for allegedly abetting an alleged "criminal group" led by Yanukoych, who was pushed from power in 2014 and fled to Russia.
Ukrainian officials also suggested that Saakashvili’s protests are part of a Russian plot against Ukraine.
Saakashvili dismisses the claims.
The opposition leader became governor of Ukraine's Odesa region in 2015 but quit a year later and is now a vocal opponent of Poroshenko.
ALSO READ: How Saakashvili And Poroshenko Got Themselves Into This Mess
Authorities arrested him in the Ukrainian capital late on December 8, prompting hundreds of his supporters to demonstrate for his release.
Associates of Saakashvili told RFE/RL that he was arrested at a friend's apartment. Close ally and fellow Georgian David Sakvarelidze said the agents were from the state security agency SBU.
Saakashvili’s lawyer and supporters said on December 9 that the opposition leader declared a hunger strike to protest his arrest.
Meanwhile, the Prosecutor-General's Office said prosecutors would ask a court to place Saakashvili under house arrest with electronic monitoring pending trial.
Saakashvili "has to answer to investigators and to society regarding the accusations against him," Poroshenko said on December 8 during a visit to Lithuania. "If he doesn't answer, it only means that these accusations are well-founded."
Saakashvili’s arrest came three days after law-enforcement officers searched his apartment in Kyiv on December 5, dragged him off the roof, and bundled him into a car. But supporters blocked the streets and pulled him from the vehicle, and he led a march to parliament.
On December 6, police raided a protest tent camp near parliament, but a 24-hour deadline for Saakashvili to turn himself in passed without visible action by the authorities.
A week ago, on December 3, Saakashvili's Movement of New Forces party organized a rally in Kyiv calling for Poroshenko's impeachment and for legislation that would allow it to take place.