In Uzhgorod City Council, mayor's security and thugs assault journalists. Police protects thugs.

On September 28, on the Day of the City in the office of the Uzhgorod City Council the mayor's security guards and athletically-looking thugs assaulted journalists and female students and also threatened to kill. The police, commanded by the vice-head of police of Uzhgorod City Department of the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs lieutenant-colonel of police Viacheslav Grygoriev, protected not the journalist or regular civilians, but the «thugs» of a very telling appearance clothed in track suits, informs Zakarpattia Online.

As the media outlet described it, several journalists, civil activists and locals intended to enter the assembly hall of the Uzhgorod City Council, where the celebrations dedicated to the Day of Uzhgorod were starting. Although the event was not invitation-only and was described in the celebration plans as the "Festive City Popular Assembly", police officers at the entrance immediately stopped those, who were  deemed, for the non-disclosed reasons, unwanted at the event, informs the outlet.

The police officers, both uniformed and in civvies, first were trying to body block the entrance to the assembly and later, when several high city officials approached the entrance, just pushed them aside using brute force. In the process,  the journalism student of Uzhgorod National University Yulia Dub even got several blows in the stomach.

Several journalists, who were covering the celebration event, and public activists participating in the flash mob at the entrance rushed to the girl's cries for help. They tried to find out from the police officers the reason for blocking the entrance to the City Council for an open event and for using force. The questions were left unanswered. Instead, when they tried once again to advance to the City Council lobby, the police got reinforced by young men of a telling appearance wearing track suits, who could not have cared less for civility or manners.

As Journalist Oleg Dyba, who got injured during the incident, shared: “... the police officers were watching as the goons, in particular, Yuriy Bohash, the personal driver and security guard of the City Mayor Victor Pogorielov, who is a known member of Adylov's gang, were manhandling the girls and the journalists, and was not taking any action. They did not respond either to the thugs' actions nor to the cries to police for help. Yuriy Bohash threatened to kill me, but my address to the police and, in particular, to Mr.Hrygoriev, received no response”.

“My intention was only to film the celebrations in the City Council assembly hall, but the police officers and the thugs rudely prevented me from fulfilling my journalist duties. The only reaction to my request to detain the person who was pushing me and threatening to kill me, was, with a certain delay, someone's command to summon the police alarm response force. Although there were more than enough police officers in the lobby to take care of the thugs right on the spot, their attention was concentrated on regular citizens, not the criminals. Later, these very thugs together with the City Council staff blocked the journalists from entering the assembly hall from the second floor. All this was photographed and filmed”, said Dyba.

Also, Dub and Dyba filed formal complaints to the police. “During the procedure of processing of our complaints, we asked the subordinates of Mr. Hrygoriev, who participated in this farce how they, uniformed policemen feel like cooperating with criminals. They silently looked down». In this case, no attempts were made to detain the thugs and demand at least some explanation from them, told Oled Dyba to journalists.

The journalists of local mass media demand an official response from the local police department in Zakarpattia region in this regard as well as an explanation from the mayor of Uzhgorod.