KHARKIV, Jan. 25 - About a hundred Chernobyl cleanup workers went on a protest at Freedom Square in central Kharkiv on Wednesday demanding that the provisions of the Ukrainian law on the status and social protection of citizens affected by the Chernobyl disaster be observed.

"We'll come out here every day, except weekends, despite the frost. We'll protest until the government returns observing the law and begins to implement court rulings. We are demanding an end to political repression against Chernobyl cleanup workers with the use of the prosecutor's office, the police and the financial inspectorate. The financial inspectorate has no right to check the medical records of Chernobyl cleanup workers, but they're using secret medical information and conducting inspections. We're demanding the dismissal of [Kharkiv] Deputy Governor Ihor Shurma, who is secretly leading repression against Chernobyl cleanup workers," one of the organizers of the rally, Valeriy Beliakov, said.