Belarusian song becomes anthem of Ukrainian protesters

Tatsiana Belanohaya's song “Children of the Sky” became an anthem for pro-EU protesters in Kyiv.

A Belarusian participant of the protests says it.

The special channel of Ukrainian protesters VideoProtest was created on YouTube at the beginning of this year. Its founders launched the project Chit-Chatting at the Barricades. A series of short videos shows active participants of the protest camp.

One of the films was about Belarusian Anatoly, who lived in Poland for the last 5 years. He took his guitar and came to Kyiv after mass protests had started in Ukraine. He has been living on Kyiv's main square for two months.

Anatoly speaks about life in the protest camp and the events of the past two months. >“People hold protest hunger strikes and risk their health to achieve their aims. We have 'life of protest' here. People are risking their lives, comfort and families. People in the protest camp can be called 'children of the sky'. They don't depend on anybody and don't obey anybody,” he says.

Anatoly says one of the songs by Belarusian Tatsiana Belanohaya is titled “Children of the Sky”. It became an anthem of the protesters, according to him. Anatoly often sings it to people in the protest camp.

The song was written in 2006.

Protests in Ukraine began in November last year after the country's government refused to sign the Association Agreement with the EU. The protests strengthened and spread to most regions after attempts to disperse the rally violently. Cruel clashes between the police and protesters took place in the middle of January. Four people, including Belarusian Mikhail Zhyzneuski, were killed.