KIEV, July 22 – The leader of a protest march against police brutality announced a hunger strike on Monday after a Kiev court ruled he must be held for 10 days for violating rules for organizing rallies.

Vasyl Liubarets led the march across Ukraine to Kiev demanding resignation of Internal Affairs Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko channeling popular anger after two police officers had gang raped and tried to kill a young woman in Vradiyivka, Mykolayiv region.

The rally of 150 protesters was brutally dispersed by riot police at about midnight on Thursday after they had started to set up a tent camp in downtown Kiev, apparently preparing for a long-term protest.

The authorities said the rally was allowed to be held no later than midnight on Thursday, while the protesters had planned to make the action indefinite. Also, no tents were allowed to be set up during the protest, the authorities said.

The court ruling comes days after the same Shevchenkskiy district court in Kiev had ruled to dismiss similar charges against Liubarets.

The latest ruling, unless appealed by Liubarets, would make it more difficult for protesters to get together for another planned protest rally in Kiev on Saturday, just a week after the dispersal.

The developments underscore the degree of concern by the authorities over potential street protests in Kiev ahead of the presidential election in March 2015 at which President Viktor Yanukovych is expected to seek reelection.

Massive street protests, dubbed the Orange Revolution, in November 2004 prevented Yanukovych, then prime minister, from winning presidential election despite sweeping election fraud.

The latest protests began as a spontaneous reaction earlier this month to police brutality and impunity after reports emerged that two police officers and an accomplice have gang raped and tried to kill a young woman in Vradiyivka.

Police and other authorities have first tried to cover up the case, but were later forced to arrest the three suspects following a public outrage that had resulted in storming of a local police station by angry villagers.

The protest later evolved into the Vradiyivka March, when a group of people walked all the way from the Mykolayov region to Kiev demanding resignation of Zakharchenko, Yanukovych’s close ally.

Zakharchenko, who originally planned to go on vacation on July 15, was forced to change his plans and to stay in Kiev throughout the summer following a meeting with Yanukovych on July 16.

Zakharchenko said the protest has become “too much politicized” and is used by opposition parties in order to blame the government and the ruling party.

Many Ukrainians are unhappy about police brutality and impunity and thia galvanizes the protests that now pose a direct challenge to Yanukovych ahead of the election. (tl/ez)