protective line to stop them getting into the Roma-majority neighbourhood in Irpin, a town around 20 kilometres from Kiev. The action was organised in response to a conflict between two Romani teenagers, aged 16 and 17, who reportedly attacked a 22-year-old Ukrainian soldier on the evening of 15th October. According to Irina Pyanishnikova, the spokesperson of the National Police in the Kiev region: "…there was a case when two representatives of the Romani people caused light bodily harm to one of the inhabitants of Irpin. We have opened a criminal investigation.” The protest which began at around 3:00pm lasted until the evening. Attempts to storm Romani homes were successfully denied by the strong police presence at the protest, which included officers from the district police department, the preventive activities department, and special forces as well as the leader of the Kiev police region who was present at the scene. While no violence occurred, the intimidation of an entire Romani community based on the actions of two teenagers is only the most recent example of collective punishment at the hands of an angry mob in Ukraine. In recent years, Romani communities throughout the country have been subjected to similar intimidation, often led by the same far-right organisations who were present at the protest on 17th October. In some instances these actions have led to pogroms of entire communities due to allegations against individual Romani people. In 2018 and 2019, there was a spate of at least 6 pogroms and far-right attacks on Romani people across Ukraine. An attack on 23rd June 2018 was fatal, when members of the far-right group Lemberg Jugend (Lviv Youth) killed 23-year-old Romani man, David Popp, outside of Lviv. In this case the police acted competently and responsibly, preventing serious violence or damage to property. Too often this is not the case in Ukraine. In August 2016, police stood by and watched in Loshchynivka while villagers destroyed Romani homes and drove the entire Romani community from the village. In May 2018, national police failed to protect Roma in Lviv from an attack by masked men who dragged them from their living place, beat them, and set their makeshift homes alight. In April 2018, farright groups C-14 and the “Municipal Guards” drove fifteen Romani families from their makeshift homes in the Lysa Hora nature reserve in Kiev, seemingly on the authority of the local police and the district administration. Far-right thugs, carrying weapons, chased down fleeing parents carrying small children, threw stones at them, and then set fire to the tents where the Roma had been living. The groups were acting on a memorandum of cooperation signed with both the Holosiyiv District Administration and the Holosiyiv National Police in December 2017 to provide security services. More recently in April 2020, police and the public prosecutor failed to open a criminal complaint after a Romani family were beaten and had their tents set alight in Kiev.” OHCHR, Consequences of internal displacement at the centre of Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights' dialogue with Ukraine, 21 February 2020 "In 2017, violent acts had taken place in Roma settlements, as well as intimidation acts targeting Roma people." OHCHR, Human Rights Council holds an interactive dialogue on the situation of human rights in Sri Lanka, 20 March 2019 "Minority Rights Group highlighted the violations faced by the Roma communities in Ukraine who were targeted by far right groups and were living in vulnerable situations." OHCHR, Update on Ukraine under item 10, 41 st Session to the Human Rights Council, 10 July 2019 "We are alarmed about interference in the work of media professionals, including physical attacks and acts of intimidation – including the recent death of a well-known investigative journalist on 20 June. To foster an environment conducive to peaceful and inclusive elections, steps should be taken to ensure accountability for previous attacks on journalists, as well as on activists and minorities, notably Roma and LGBTQI." 16