ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the onset and course of Mariupol Maidan-Antimaidan mobilization. The “Maidan movement” is an umbrella term for social mobilization supportive of the Maidan revolution. Pro-Maidan participation of Mariupol residents was both ideologically unlikely and statistically insignificant when compared to protest sites in central and western Ukraine. This is because the majority of the population including political and law enforcement structures supported Yanukovych and the Party of Regions (PoR). As a result, tens of Maidan goers stood against hundreds of Maidan opponents. Yet, this minority mobilization created the basis for the future defense of the city against insurgency and later Russian war.
