Pro-EU protesters call for general strike in Ukraine

AFP, KIEV Tue, Dec 03, 2013

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2013/12/03/2003578191

Protesters yesterday shout slogans and hold flags of Ukraine’s nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party as they block the Cabinet of the Ministers building in Kiev.Dec 03, 2013

FULL STORY

Photo: AFP

1Ukrainian protesters yesterday declared a general strike and blockaded government buildings after violent clashes in which more than 100,000 sought early elections over the authorities’ rejection of a historic EU pact.

2Nearly 10,000 supporters of the ex-Soviet state’s alliance with the EU and disavowal of old master Russia camped out overnight on Kiev’s iconic Independence Square in a bid to keep alive Ukraine’s biggest pro-democracy protest since the 2004 Orange Revolution.

3Thousands then moved toward government and state administration buildings calling for Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s immediate ouster and a nationwide strike.

4Streams of cars honked their horns in support while church bells rang out across the heart of the ancient capital in scenes posing the single biggest challenge to the president’s three-year rule.

5“We are tired of these gangsters and bandits,” said a driver who identified himself as Ivan Filipovich after pulling his car alongside others blocking the entrance to the main government building.

6“Everything is corrupt. We want to be close to normal countries and not Russia,” the 51-year-old said while glancing at the gold-and-blue flag of the EU hanging out his window.

7The swarming crowd had first defied a ban on protests on Sunday by driving lines of helmeted police off the same expansive square that provided the setting of the dramatic 2004 revolt.

8Some of the more militant in the group also steered a bulldozer within striking distance of barricades protecting the Yanukovych administration building.

9Security forces outside the president’s seat of power fired dozens of stun grenades and smoke bombs at masked demonstrators who were pelting police with stones and Molotov cocktails.


10Kiev’s city government said in an update yesterday that 165 police officers and demonstrators had been injured in the most serious clashes witnessed in Ukraine since the Soviet Union’s demise.

11The nation of 46 million was thrown into crisis when Yanukovych snubbed EU leaders at a summit on Friday last week and refused a deal that would have paved Ukraine’s way to eventual membership in the 28-nation bloc.

12Yet the move now threatens to backfire on Yanukovych as his political foes try to build momentum amid discontent with state corruption and disappearing jobs.

13Ukrainian officials were dealt more embarrassment yesterday when members of the nationalist Svoboda party held on to their control of Kiev city hall after storming the empty building late on Sunday.

14“A revolution is starting in Ukraine,” Svoboda party chief Oleh Tyahnybok said.

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call for 要求、需要
 This is a problem that calls for immediate solution. (這是個迫切需要解決的問題。)

用法

call for 表示要求, 需要, 當及物動詞, 主詞一般是抽象名詞; 還可表示來找某人或來取某物, 一是及物動詞, 主詞一般是人。

第一段
declare a strike 發動抗爭
blockade blɑˋked n.封鎖、道路阻塞
 A blockade of all the harbors of that country would require thousands of war-ships. (封鎖那個國家的所有港口需要成千上萬艘戰艦。)
pact pækt n.契約、協定、條約C  pacts
 This led to a non-aggression pact between the two countries. (這導致了兩國間互不侵犯的簽訂。)

第二段
disavowal ͵dɪsəˋvaʊəl n.拒絕、否認、否定
in a bid to 努力、試圖

第三段
ouster ˋaʊstɚ n.驅逐、罷黜

第九段
stun stʌn  n.使昏迷
grenade n.手榴彈  2.滅火彈
smoke bomb 手榴彈
pelt  pɛlt vt.連續地投擲
 We pelted our friends with snowballs. (我們朝朋友扔雪球。)
                   2.連續抨擊、攻擊﹝+with﹞
 The crowd pelted the mayor with angry questions. (那群人用憤怒的質問圍攻市長。)


第十段
 clash n.衝突C =conflict

demise dɪˋmaɪz n.死亡、終止
 the demise of a newpaper(報紙的停刊)

第十一段
snub snʌb vt.嚴厲斥責、厲聲禁止
 snob 人 into silence(罵得某人一聲不吭)
 snob, snobbed, snobbed, snobbing

第十二段
backfire  `bækˏfaɪr   n.產生事與願違的結果
discontent with 對...不滿意的
 She is discontent with her job. (她不滿意自己的工作。)