Ronco Diabo

Orange Revolution (Chestnut Revolution because sometimes chestnut trees in Kiev) is a series of protests, blockades and general strikes at national level in Ukraine, organized by supporters of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko after the publication of the disputed presidential election results in November 2004.

The protests began on the day following the second round of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko, the official results were very different from the exit polls of polls. The polls gave him a Yushchenko victory with 11% difference, while official results gave the victory of Yanukovych with an advance of 3%. Yanukovich's supporters claim that Yushchenko's links with the media explain this difference. On the other hand, Yushchenko's supporters and international observers accused the electoral fraud in favor of Yanukovych, the candidate backed by power.

23 November 2004, protests began in several major cities in Ukraine, including Kiev's Independence Square One, which attracted about 200,000 participants who have made a peaceful march in front of the Verhovna Rada, Ukrainian parliament, many of them wearing clothing or orange flags (the color of Yushchenko's campaign coalition). Kiev, Lviv and other cities have refused to admit the legitimacy of election results released on that day, and Yushchenko made a symbolic oath of office.

Although Yushchenko has started negotiations with President Leonid Kuchma in an effort to peacefully resolve this situation, the negotiations were stuck on 24 November 2004. After Yanukovych was officially confirmed in office, Yushchenko spoke to supporters in Kiev, asking them to start a "Orange Revolution" of general strikes and blockades to force human power to accept defeat:

Path to a compromise between people who show their will is the only path to that will help us to find a way out of this conflict. Therefore, the National Salvation Committee declares a national political strike.