21/01/2014 09:34
Riot police move to force protesters off Kiev streets
Police are trying to force protesters off the streets in Ukraine’s capital as clashes enter the third day. The security services have reportedly fired rubber bullets at the protesters, who’ve retaliated with by throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails, RT reported.
Riot police advanced towards the protesters on Hrushevsky Street, which borders the government quarters, RT’s Alexey Yaroshevsky reports from Kiev.
“We have just seen that the police have started pushing the protesters off this particular place that they were occupying for the last 24 hours.”
Reportedly, police have been using non-lethal shotguns, firing at some of the protesters. But, police warned that there is a possibility of weapons being used against some protesters, local media reported.
“Protesters have been responding by throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at the police,” Yaroshevsky said, adding that right now the situation is at a stand-still.
There are approximately 200-400 protesters in a stand-off against the same number of police officers, Yaroshevsky observed.
The leader of the opposition Udar Party, Vitaly Klitschko, has urged to avoid violence and said that he believes the thugs gathering in Kiev is a government’s plan to create havoc.
On Monday protesters climbed atop the main gate of the Dynamo football stadium, using it as a strongpoint to bombard police special forces with Molotov cocktails.
The police opted for tear gas and stun grenades in order to contain the rioting crowd, which local media estimated at around 2,000.
Earlier, anti-government protesters in Kiev set up an improvised catapult, launching stones and firecrackers at police cordons. The police later destroyed the device.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry on Monday condemned the “commandants of Maidan” – the deputies from the opposition representing the protesters rallying in central Independence Square – for providing rioters with “dangerous cold steel arms.”