Nazi collaborator commemorated in Ukrainian capital

2 Jan, 2008 09:04 / Updated 14 years ago

In Ukraine, a nationalist march has held a torchlit procession to the central square of the capital, Kiev.

The march was dedicated to the 99th anniversary of the Ukrainian Nationalist leader Stepan Bandera. The march's participants demanded that Bandera, whose army collaborated with the Nazis during World War 2, be granted the status of Ukrainian hero. In the 1940s Stepan Bandera and his troops, killed thousands of Ukrainians, Poles, Jews and gypsies while fighting for Ukraine’s independence. Ukrainian authorities did not prevent the march. They did, however, send dozens of policemen to accompany the procession in order to ensure order.