Ukraine Government Broadcasts Ominous Text Message To Protestors

Taking part in a riot or protest can be dangerous as police might target you even if you were just standing there peacefully. However there is also the chance that no one will recognize you, given that some protests do consists of tens of thousands of participants, but over in the Ukraine, it looks like the government is trying to scare protestors into staying home. At the moment in Kiev, Ukraine, it seems that there are violent protests going on at the moment where over 100,000 people protested the new laws that would make it illegal to cover ones face, wear a helmet, set up tents, or use a sound system to conduct a peaceful assembly.

The protestors are reported to have armed themselves with baseball bats, Molotov cocktails, and even a catapult. The police have responded in kind with rubber bullets and stun grenades, and the government has recently attempted to use technology to scare of protestors. During the protests in Egypt and Sudan, the government basically turned off networks to prevent protestors from organizing themselves and to prevent word from getting out. However in Ukraine, the government broadcasted a message which read, “Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.” 

The messages were received by those around the protest zone which made many wonder how the government managed to do that. Local carriers have denied providing location data to the government and assuming that’s true, it looks like the Ukraine government knows more about its citizens than they are letting on. However it seems that the ominous message did not work as protestors were back at it several hours later.

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Legal