The student protest of 1992: the “Gart” program

October 15, 1992, program of the youth studio “Hart”.

Guests on the program: Volodymyr Chemeris, chairman of the Union of Ukrainian Students, students Ihor Kapistinsky and Oleh Barkov, MPs: Taras Stetskiv, a member of the Committee on Legislation and Law, Anatoliy Matvienko, Chairman of the Committee on Youth Affairs, Oleksandr Yemets, State Counselor of Ukraine, and Yaroslav Kondratiev, Chairman of the Committee on Law and Order and Fighting Crime.

The topic of the program is the students' hunger strike as a continuation of the 1990 action for a national referendum and re-election of the parliament. The host is Viktor Pavliuk.

Background: On October 2, 1990, a group of students, mostly from Kyiv and Lviv universities, went on a hunger strike in Kyiv on Independence Square and put forward political demands. A few days later, the number of permanent residents of the town increased to several hundred, and the number of those who gathered on the Maidan every day grew to several thousand. Among the main demands of the protesters were the early dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the appointment of new elections in the fall of 1991; the resignation of the head of the Council of Ministers of Ukraine, Vitaliy Masol; prevention of the signing of a new Union Treaty, and others.

And from October 6 to 23, 1992, students again set up a tent city on the Maidan and went on a hunger strike, demanding reforms and the resignation of the government. This action resulted in a partial victory, including the resignation of then-Prime Minister Vitold Fokin and promises of radical changes from Leonid Kuchma, who took over.