Kiev protests turn into street battles

City smoulders from clashes as president meets with opposition

Flames from buses set ablaze lit up the night sky, protesters dug up stones from the pavement to hurl at police and the stench of tear gas hung thick in Kiev.

In a standoff resembling a pitched battle, anti-government protesters in the Ukrainian capital sought to break a police cordon guarding the passage to official buildings, using almost any implement they could get their hands on as a weapon.

Molotov cocktails were hurled at police as demonstrators launched periodic charges armed with baseball bats, sticks and chains at the line of security forces. They moved back before launching another surge.

According to Kiev health authorities, more than 100 protesters were wounded in the clashes, with four people suffering serious injuries to their eyes and limbs. The Interior Ministry said more than 100 police officers had been wounded.

The main opposition leaders behind two months of protests against Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych disowned the actions, which appeared to have been launched by well-organized groups of radicals.

Some of the protesters donned gas masks to protect themselves from tear gas sprayed by police, as well as warm ski clothes in a bitter evening with temperatures well below freezing.

With the Interior Ministry warning it was filming every minute of the event, the protesters covered their faces with balaclavas and scarves to hide their identities.

"We are going to stand right to the end," chanted hundreds of protesters engaged in the clashes.

As a deluge of stones thrown by the protesters rained down on them, police adopted the "tortoise" formation of covering themselves with their shields.

Protesters set five police buses and two trucks on fire. According to police, all but one of the vehicles were completely destroyed.

After more than 10 hours of clashes, police sought to win the upper hand by stepping up the use of water cannons, but the protesters remained defiant.

"Tell everyone that we need more petrol for the Molotov cocktails. Write this on Facebook," said one.

Police also used rubber bullets for the first time in almost two months of protests against the government's refusal to sign a deal with the European Union.

Activists said these caused dozens of injuries.

Others complained about the shortcomings of the mainstream protest movement that has so far failed to offer a major challenge to Yanukovych.

"Look, there is not a single member of parliament here," another protester was heard saying. "We do not need these weaklings."

A hard core of several hundred protesters were engaged in the clashes as several thousand more looked on in support.

The noise from stun grenades and the beating of drums echoed around the city and showed little sign of letting up as the clock ticked well past midnight.

Staying at the scene for a long period without a gas mask was almost impossible due to the concentration of tear gas. Those without gas masks crouched low to the ground where the air was cleaner.

In an apparent attempt to find a compromise, opposition leader Vitali Klitschko, former boxing champion, traveled to the president's Mezhygirya residence outside Kiev to meet Yanukovych in person.

Yanukovych promised Klitschko early Monday to create a special commission of officials set up by National Security Council Secretary Andriy Klyuyev to solve the crisis, the former boxer's party and the presidency announced. The presidency said the new commission would meet the opposition on Monday.

Klitschko told online television channel Hromadske TV that the president had appeared "very concerned" by the latest events but also pointedly ignored the opposition's main demand for early elections.

Yanukovych triggered the pro-Europe rallies when he did an about-turn in November and ditched a free trade deal with the European Union in favor of closer economic ties with Russia.

Russia has since thrown Ukraine a $15 billion lifeline in credits as well as a softer deal for natural gas.

AFP - Reuters

(China Daily 01/21/2014 page11)