Jennifer Carroll: Things that happened on Maidan this evening (Photo)

Source: https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.carroll.16/posts/10151882678052413?stream_ref=10

(Jennifer Carroll — American anthropologist who lives in Kiev)

Things that happened on Maidan this evening

–city hall is overwhelmed with people (including several clergymen) who are bringing food and medical supplies.

–the middle-aged woman who collected our food donations from us gave us a large package filled with packets of black pepper and allspice. She said(barked really) “Devushka! When you go around this way, you will see a group of men preparing molotov cocktails. You must take this to them.”

–the same woman then tried to give one of the self defense volunteers (a man in full flack jacket and helmet, weapons and body armor) one of the mandarins we had brought. He had a sandwich in one hand and a soda in the other. “you need vitamin C!” she said. He said “naw, both my hands are full, I don’t want it.” The woman huffed at him in offense and grabbed the collar of his sweatshirt. he was in a hoodie and the hood was up. She stuffed an orange violently into his hood until it sat securely in his collar. “You must eat it! You need your health!” The self defense volunteer laughed and pulled away like he was a child being tickled.

–People from all over Kyiv in all kinds of cars (Kia, Jeep, Lexus, Daiwoo) are driving up to the barricades to deliver piles and piles of tires to add to the fire. Mostly women are carrying the tires towards the front.

–Cobble stones are being ripped up all across Independence square and broken into smaller pieces so that they can be thrown. Women in heels and fur coats can be seen digging up the stones. Even a man i a wheel chair with no legs was there breaking stones with an ax.

–As we approached the fire line, a man in his 60s stood up from his chair. It was sitting against the barricade. He offered for me to stand on his chair so that i could take pictures over the wall. I hesitated. My feet were muddy. “May I?” I asked. “You need to,” he said. He and another woman, without asking, just doing, hoisted me up to the top of the barricade and silently held me steady for several minutes while I documented the area. He then helped me climb down and turned to my friends saying, “Who’s next?”

–Police are still using water canons to try to “put out the fires”. Mostly they are turning the square into a swamp.

–Artists are singing classical Ukrainian music on stage. Their voices are hypnotizing and beautiful.

–The crowds are immense. Everyone is kind and smiling, cooperating together and working hard. One of my friends was even recruited to help carry a huge piece of sheet metal over to the barricade to reinforce it while we were there. People are kind and helpful and lovely. Even the guards manning the gates yell over their megaphones not to order people around, but to thank them for being so kind and keeping to the right and making way for each other.

How can these people be radicals? They want you to be fed and be safe. They want everyone to come join them, because there is more than enough tea to go around, and the band is about to start.

(Photos: Jennifer Carroll)

Many Ukrainians, including an orthodox priest, help carry food donations into city hall, which is once again occupied:

We were given several packages of all spice and black pepper from the kitchen volunteers and given orders to deliver them to the men preparing molotov cocktails in the square:

Milk helps ease the burning caused by tear gas:

They are sorting the food. This is the bread:

People are bringing in homemade canned goods:

A small portion (ie one of the many stock piles in the building) of donated water:

refrigerators have been “borrowed’ to keep meat and dairy products fresh:

This is the medical service point we were told to go to because the other too were literally overfilled with supplies. This is the empty one:

The coat check in city hall is still being manned and operated:

The revolution continues to be caffeinated:

The square. Water cannons being used by the police can be seen in the back:

a woman manages a food station. Fires burn in the background:

Protesters listening to speeches on the main stage while the tire fires hold back the berkut brigades behind them:

The fires being burned are meant to keep the berkut at bay. They are not meant to injure or cause damage. They are meant to prevent the violent and vicious riot police from entering the area and hurting citizens:

Easily thousands in the square tonight:

Piles of donated tires, ready to feed the fires:

The outer barricade, on the north end of Khreshatyk st.:

a self defense volunteer throws more tires into the fires to keep them burning:

A woman watches the barricades while flames break through a window in the Trade Union building, which is still on fire. It has been burning since last night:

A group of men (aided by the venerable Heath Morrison) carry a large piece of sheet metal over the barricades to reinforce the outer wall:

Protesters wait calmly, clouds of smoke around them:

The fires closest to the Institutka barricade, which riot police broke through last night:

The crowd at the main stage. Evening prayers were just beginning:

“Where there is will, there is fate.” (in english we say “where there is a will, there is a way”):

a rolling suitcase is being used by protesters to carry cobblestones to the front:

An elderly couple cooperates to fill a bag with cobblestones. When it is full, the bag will be carried by other volunteers to the front lines:

A woman in a fur coat and patent leather heeled boots collects cobblestones in a bag, preparing them for the front lines:

This woman and man are cooperating to break up cobblestones. The woman is placing the stones on top of each other one by one, and the man is swinging an ax to break them apart:

A group of volunteers are “gaining access” to the Kofe Time restaurant on Khreshatyk: