An unusually high number of racist attacks took place in Ukraine throughout the month of March 2007, according to a report by Vyacheslav Likhachyov, UCSJ's Kiev monitor. Although not mentioned in Mr. Likhachyov’s report, racist and antisemitic violence, along with corresponding rhetoric from some Ukrainian politicians, does have a tendency to spike upwards during times of political turmoil in Ukraine, making it possible that the rising frequency of incidents last month was related to the latest political crisis, which has paralyzed the government.

Mr. Likhachyov began his summary with an incident previously reported by UCSJ--on March 3, around 50 extremist nationalists held a racist rally in Kiev. With arms extended in the fascist salute, the demonstrators screamed racist slogans like “Ukraine for the Ukrainians!” in a protest action near the city's Shulyavsky Market, whose traders are mostly from African nations and other developing countries. The protestors accused the traders of “sleeping with our women.” “We want the Ukrainian people to be the master on our land,” Oles Vakhny, a march organizer, announced.

Mr. Likhachyov added that the rally had an antisemitic element as well--one demonstrator held a sign reading “Stop Zionist-African expansion.” In addition, three neo-Nazis participating in the rally reportedly attacked a Chinese man, chasing him into a nearby McDonalds, where security guards eventually stopped them from beating him.

On March 7, neo-Nazis attacked a Brazilian soccer player visiting Kiev from Vilnius, Lithuania. Around a dozen skinheads beat Glejtona Barbozu after setting off tear gas in his face. The victim refused to report the incident to police.

On March 9, eight teenagers attacked five Indian students at a medical institute in Simferopol. One of the students used a scalpel during the brawl to slash one of the teenagers, who was subsequently hospitalized; another Indian used a gas-powered pistol. Police denied that the attackers were neo-Nazis. Over the previous month, other attacks on foreign students in Simferopol were reported.

On March 16, hundreds of neo-Nazis gathered in Kiev for a “white power” rock music performance by the group Tin Sontsa (“Shadow of the Sun”). An anti-fascist youth was assaulted near the concert venue—the National University of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy—after trying to take pictures of the event. Recorded speeches of Adolf Hitler were played during the concert as the musicians screamed “Sieg heil!” and raised their arms in the fascist salute. The lead singer reportedly incited the crowd to antisemitic violence by calling out: “If you see a Jew, break his nose!” There was unconfirmed information that market traders from the Caucasus working near the concert venue were also assaulted.

On March 18, university students in Kharkov belonging to the far-right Patriot of Ukraine youth movement held a torchlight procession on campus. Marchers screamed out in unison: “One race! One nation! Our motherland—Ukraine!” and “Give the best dormitories to Ukrainian students!” University officials reportedly authorized the demonstration, which passed without incident. Evgeny Zakharov—head of the Kharkov Human Rights Protection Group, the country’s leading human rights NGO—opined that the action was aimed at intimidating foreign students, and added that this was the third such demonstration and that violence against foreign students followed the previous marches. However, the victims were too scared to report the attacks to the police.

On March 21, an anti-racist meeting in Kiev (The March Against Racism) was partially disrupted by Oles Vakhny (a participant in the March 3 anti-African rally mentioned above). Mr. Vakhny reportedly threw bananas at the well known Nigerian pastor Sandey Adeladja after asking him why so many Nigerians are drug dealers. Mr. Vakhny then allegedly fought with a security guard and was given a 15 day jail sentence for “hooliganism.”

On March 31, a citizen of Bangladesh named Abu Bakar was murdered on Kibalchich Street in Kiev after suffering multiple stab wounds. Police are considering ethnic hatred as a possible motive for the killing.

Finally, on April 2, two young men dressed in the typical uniform of neo-Nazis seriously injured a citizen of Iran. The attack took place near Kiev’s Politekhnichesky Institut metro station. The attackers left unharmed a female translator accompanying the Iranian man. Police detained both young men shortly after the assault, but it is not known what charges were filed against them.

The government’s reaction to this wave of violence has been mixed. As in the case of previously reported antisemitic attacks, there have been relatively few arrests made in connection with the assaults mentioned in Mr. Likhachyov’s report. However, in a sign of progress on the rhetorical front, on March 18, Ukraine’s new Minister of Internal Affairs, Vasily Tsushko, used the occasion of his first press conference as minister to declare that police intend to focus increased attention on neo-Nazi activity. He also called for a law to disband organizations that use fascist symbols. Previously, Ukrainian officials have either denied or played down the threat to public order posed by extremist nationalist groups. It remains to be seen what sort of concrete action will follow Minister Tsushko’s unprecedented statement.

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