Staying healthy is new battle for Ukraine opposition supporters

KIEV (AFP) — Apart from their political battle, tens of thousands of opposition protesters camped in the streets of the Ukrainian capital now face a new and unexpected enemy: ill health prompted by freezing temperatures.

In a long avenue near Kiev's Independence Square, the bastion of opposition demonstrators, sympathetic doctors had to set up a makeshift field hospital to administer medical aid to protesters reporting any number of ailments.

The human tide of opposition supporters has kept up a round-the-clock vigil to denounce "massive manipulations" during the November 21 presidential vote and to demonstrate support for their candidate -- pro-Western reformer Viktor Yushchenko -- and his claim to the presidency.

At the field hospital, doctors dressed in white robes over multi-layered sweaters, and nurses clad in scarves and winter hats, are no less busy in the tent where the ground is covered by black plastic and littered with ...