Rogue, state 404
The 2014 "revolution of dignity". Now replaced by depravity, humiliation, beatings and cruel killings:
"Horrifying videos show Ukrainian civilians - including women and children - being tied up, stripped and beaten in apparent vigilante attacks."
The UK's tabloid, the Daily Mail has a different take on this: (article)
“how proud Ukrainians are fighting back against lawless criminals wanting to take advantage of the ongoing chaos”.
There are literally hundreds of videos & photos posted showing Ukrainian civilians and military alike humiliating civilians & minors, stripping either naked or half-naked, strapping them to poles on the street.
Some of these punishments have been perpetrated by the paramilitary units, police officers and also National Guard members. But I suppose that would spoil the convenient narrative pushed on social media as “vigilantes”. However, other details were left out by the Daily Mail, such as the savage beatings of those tied up often by uniformed people, as well as beatings with belts & sticks by members of the public. Some other individuals were tied to posts, beaten and then left to freeze to their deaths during cold spells. In one video, one person has water poured over him to make him wet and get colder. All of which shows a much darker side to this practice, one that was carefully left out of the Daily Mail article. Apparently, this doesn't worry the hacks, taping looters to posts and leaving them to freeze to death is social justice. In several videos, individuals are savagely beaten or whipped.
The presumption that this is just an heroic response to looting is not verified whatsoever, it is assumed and that's the story. That's all folks. However, that's not actually the end of the sordid story, as also members of the Roma community were also singled out for inhumane and degrading treatment. Several phots from Lviv show Roma women taped up to a streetlamp with their faces daubed in a green product, 'Zelyonka'.
This is part of a much longer history of racism towards Roma. Here is a link to an attack on Roma women in Kiev, video from 2021. The man humiliates some Roma women by attacking them with a dildo by a bus stop, insulting & hitting them. He is reported to be Martin Yarosh, an ex-member of Azov, (here we go again), who subsequently as a veteran worked at the Kyiv City Hall since 2019.
In another instance in 2018, the C14 neo-nazi group attacked a Roma camp in Kiev. They kicked them out and burnt their tents and the video of the attack was posted on social media. C-14 had signed an agreement with Kiev's city government to patrol its streets in early 2018.
This is just one part of a much darker tangled web. Paramilitary and nationalist groups are acting with total impunity, persecuting and attacking anyone perceived to be opposed to Kiev’s authority, on the spot reactionary allegations of being a 'saboteur' or being "pro-Russian" is sufficient to getting beaten up, tied up or worse summarily killed. All of these aberrations are given the nod of approval on social media, since the excuse presented is they are "marauders". It still doesn't justify the depraved punishment nor the beatings.
The manifestly systemic nature of these punishments across Ukraine, points to the breakdown of law and order in Ukraine. While at the same, people in the West are being fed a pack of lies about the need to support Ukrainian democracy.