Chernobyl victims protest demanding unpaid benefits 
Tue Dec 3 2002, 7:50 AM ET  

KIEV, Ukraine - Waving banners and shouting at passing lawmakers, some
200 survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear accident protested outside
Ukraine's parliament Tuesday, demanding payment of compensation and
increased social protection.

The All-Ukrainian Party for People of Chernobyl staged the protest to
coincide with the national Day of Invalid Protection, criticizing
lawmakers for slashing Chernobyl victims' benefits by some 80 percent
in the proposed 2003 budget and demanding the state pay long-overdue
benefits.

"A year's gone by without getting paid ... only if all those swindlers
leave the parliament will the situation change, otherwise nothing will
change," said Fedor Hryhorenko, one of the protesters.

Some 1,500 Chernobyl survivors marched down the Ukrianian capital's
main boulevard Sunday calling on the government to provide housing for
victims outside the radiation zone, higher social payments to account
for inflation, and free medical care, according to the Interfax news
agency.

Ukraine suffered the world's worst nuclear disaster in April 1986,
when a reactor at Chernobyl exploded and caught fire, sending a
radioactive cloud over vast areas of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus and
much of northern Europe.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians disabled by Chernobyl-related
illnesses suffer from inadequate health care and some 25,000 evacuated
families still await housing, according to the Emergency Situations
Ministry.

Officials estimate that some 3.3 million Ukrainians, including 1.5
million children were affected by the accident.


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