"Armed Forces first, then everything else": Protests against shady tenders unfold in Odesa

On 2 September, Odesa City Day, locals gathered with banners near the city hall and demanded to cancel tenders for the reconstruction of the Kyiv District Court and the Young Spectators Theater with money from the city budget, and transfer it to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Source: Kateryna Nozhevnikova, head of the Corporation of Monsters charity fund, on Facebook; Dumska; Suspilne 

Quote: "We will not allow you to spend even a penny on non-priority expenses during the war.

And we won't let you mock our defenders and us. A city that came out with a call not against the authorities, but rather to the authorities – a call to stop meaningless tenders and remember that we all only have one country. And the fate of the country now depends on the actions of everyone."

Details: According to media reports, anywhere from 400 to 600 people came to the protest.

It is noted that the protest was peaceful and "was ignored by the authorities".

The main goal, the organisers note, is to draw authorities’ attention to the need to direct all efforts to help the army and military personnel who protect the peaceful existence of the city.

The reason for the rally are dubious tenders of the city and regional authorities. For example, the city decided to allocate UAH 106,2 million [about US$2.86 million – ed.]  for the reconstruction of the Kyiv District Court, over UAH 30 million [about US$808,000 – ed.] to repair the facade of the Theater of Young Spectators, and more than UAH 30 million on road repairs in the village of Dachne.

Two political factions of the City Council, Servant of the People and European Solidarity, appealed on 25 August to the mayor of Odesa with a request to cancel the tender for the repair of the Kyiv District Court.

People plan to hold similar rallies every Saturday.

The first such rally took place on 28 August.

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