UKRAINE: PRESIDENT APPROVES PROTESTERS' SHANTYTOWN PULLED DOWN








KIEV, March 1. /From RIA Novosti's Victor Demidenko/. President Leonid Kuchma approved the police as they pulled down a protester shantytown in Kiev.


	As he was addressing newsmen, the President pointed out the legality of police action. "There is a rule in Kiev, which complies with the Ukrainian law--and it is good," he remarked. Mr. Kuchma regrets that certain parliamentarians not merely shrug off the law but instigate its violation by others while it is MPs' duty to be more law-abiding than other people, he said.


	As the shantytown of public action, "Ukraine Without Kuchma", was ransacked this morning, 44 protesters were detained for alleged violent resistance and taken to district police stations. No one of the detainees is injured, says the city police board.


	Today's action is likely to usher in tough action by the regime to put down a countrywide political crisis, MP Yuri Karamzin, one of public protest leaders, said to RIA Novosti.