Makeshift library offers protesters an escape from the tensions of the struggle
When the fervour flags for the anti-government protesters in Ukraine's capital Kiev, and they want to get away from the barricades for a little while, many of them head to an improvised library in one of the buildings seized by demonstrators.
It's just down the street from the occupied Independence Square.
Menacing-looking men wearing balaclavas and camouflage guard the entrance, keeping a close eye on all who enter.
Inside, shelves with a couple of thousand books have been crammed into a hallway of Ukrainian House (government hall), an exhibition centre and former Lenin museum that protesters took over two weeks ago after attacking it with rocks and firebombs to drive out police who were sheltering there.
Sasha, a balaclava-clad anti-government protester, said he's charged with protecting the library building but in his off time, he ventures inside and leaves the world of barricades and conflict behind him.
I am providing security for Ukrainian House and after being at the barricades I come here to distract myself from reality, from war and from bloodshed. It is a very good place for a library because you can come here and read something romantic, or funny stories, Sasha explained.
It's hardly a model of austere propriety - no one hushes the patrons, and tough young men holding clubs confront unfamiliar people - but for those who come to read, it's an oasis for the intellect and a break from the tensions of the Maidan, the downtown square that is the centre of protests now in their third month.
This library appears so surprising for me, Nastya, a Sumy resident now studying in Kiev, said.
In all this violence, fires and war you can just sit here, read some books or take with you and just relax or just think about our history, about other facts and heros, she continued.
Ukrainian history has been the most popular topic among the 200 to 500 people who visit every day, according to Andzhelika Zozula, one of the library's organisers.
It's a place where they can just relax, read something and get escape from bad reality, protest supporter Andrei Makarenko said.
Kiev Resident Danuta Kostura, who equally marvels at the concept, said, I find this to be a true phenomenon, when amid all of this blood and anxiety, a library is born.
The library is an element of the extensive community that has also been born among the protests - joining field kitchens, first aid stations and clothing distribution booths.
Zozula said the library's lending policies are in line with that community spirit - trusting patrons to sign their correct names and a note reading You have my word, and rewarding the return of books with a sugary treat.
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