KIEV (Sputnik) – Supporters of Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian president and an opposition figure in Ukraine, who has been deported from Ukraine to Poland, held rallies in the cities of Lviv and Odessa, local media reported on Sunday.
In Lviv, the protesters also demanded Poroshenko to step down, and started collecting signatures in support of the Ukrainian president’s impeachment, Unian news agency reported.
In Odessa, where Saakashvili was a regional governor between 2015 and 2016, around 300 individuals participated in the rally, the reports added. The demonstrators reportedly held posters with slogans calling for Poroshenko’s impeachment, and for fighting corruption in Ukraine.
Earlier in the day, thousands of Saakashvili’s supporters held a demonstration in Kiev demanding impeachment of Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko. Saakashvili did not attend the demonstration since on Monday he had been deported by the Ukrainian authorities to Poland from where he had illegally entered Ukraine in September.
Sunday marks the fourth anniversary of the February 2014 violent clashes between Ukrainian radical activists and law enforcement in Kiev, commonly referred to as the Euromaidan, after which Poroshenko came to power.
On Wednesday, Saakashvili said he had received an identification document in the Netherlands. The politician is married to Dutch national Sandra Roelofs, with whom he has two children.
In July, Saakashvili was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship while he was visiting the United States, after it was revealed that that he had provided incorrect information on his citizenship application. According to Ukrainian media reports, Saakashvili had covered up his criminal record in Georgia, where he faces various charges, including embezzlement.
Over the recent months, Saakashvili has been leading anti-government rallies in Kiev, calling for the impeachment of Poroshenko and well as for the introduction of legislation to fight corruption in the country.
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