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| Clashes in Ukraine as 200,000 Demonstrators Defy Protest Curbs |
| 2014-01-20 |
| [An Nahar] Clashes between police and protesters raged in the center of the Ukrainian capital Kiev on Sunday after 200,000 defied new restrictions on protests to turn out for a new rally against President Viktor Yanukovych. Several hours of the bloody festivities left dozens injured and further raised stakes in the almost two month-standoff between the opposition and Yanukovych which has seen protesters seize control of the center of Kiev. The U.S. embassy in Kiev urged an end to the violence. In a statement is called on the Ukrainian government to "immediately start negotiations with all sides to resolve the political standoff, address protesters' concerns, and prevent violence from spreading." Ukrainian police used tear gas, stun grenades and water cannon in a bid to disperse the hundreds of people who sought to storm police cordons near the Verkhovna Rada parliament in the capital, witnesses and Agence La Belle France Presse correspondents said. In some of the most violent scenes since the start of the protests, demonstrators rocked police buses outside the Verkhovna Rada and set two of them on fire while the air filled with the stench of tear gas. Their faces covered by scarves or ski masks, many of the protesters wielded sticks or even chains amid temperatures of minus seven degrees Celsius. They were confronted by helmeted riot police equipped with shields. Health officials said 24 people were maimed and three were hospitalized, while police said more than 30 officers were hurt and 10 hospitalized. Police insisted the water cannon was used to douse flames on the buses and not against protesters. Kiev riot police said the protesters had captured a security services officer and brutally beat him up. He was then rescued but found seriously injured and in a "state of shock." The flames from the blazing police bus lit up the evening sky while the thud of smoke bombs and stun grenades echoed around. In what amounted to a pitched battle, the protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails as they sought to penetrate police lines whenever the tear gas and smoke cleared. Opposition leaders including former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko and Arseniy Yatsenyuk called on the protesters to refrain from using force but their calls were ignored. Amid the chaos of the festivities, Klitschko was sprayed with powder from a fire extinguisher leaving his eyes irritated and face and clothes covered in white powder. "I call on President Yanukovych: find it in yourself not to repeat the fate of (Nicolae) Ceausescu and (Muammar) Qadaffy," said the boxer turned politician, referring to the slain Romanian and Libyan autocrats. He urged the president to "call early elections so that the situation does not get any worse." His spokeswoman said Klitschko traveled to meet with Yanukovych for emergency talks at the president's Mezhygirya residence outside Kiev. Police guarding the president's home allowed him through but it was not clear if the talks took place. Earlier, some 200,000 people had filled Kiev's Independence Square and surrounding streets for a new mass rally in defiance of new strict curbs on protests. Protesters expressed frustration at the rally over the lack of a clear program from the opposition leaders after almost two months of protests over Yanukovych's decision to ditch a pact with the EU under Russian pressure. The opposition called the rally after Yanukovych on Friday signed off on the new legislation banning nearly all forms of protest that outraged activists and troubled the West. The new laws allow the authorities to jail those who blockade public buildings for up to five years and permit the arrest of protesters who wear masks or helmets. Other provisions ban the dissemination of "slander" on the Internet and introduce the term "foreign agent" to be applied to non-governmental groups that receive foreign funding. |
| Posted by:Fred |