Clashes amid huge Ukraine protest against U-turn on EU
1 December 2013
Last updated at 18:23 GMT
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
The BBC’s Steve Rosenberg says the clashes were on the fringe of an otherwise fairly peaceful protest
A huge rally has been taking place in the Ukrainian capital to oppose a government decision not to sign a deal on closer EU ties, despite a ban.
Casualties were reported after clashes between protesters and police on the fringes of the rally.
Police used tear gas and stun grenades to push back protesters near the presidential office.
Elsewhere in the city centre, protesters stormed the city council building and took it over.
News agencies said about 100,000 people rallied on Kyiv’s Independence Square, defying a ban imposed a day earlier.
Protesters are demanding the resignation of the government and new elections. President Viktor Yanukovych says Russian pressure was behind his decision not to sign the deal.
‘Kyiv is ours’
Demonstrators tried to approach President Yanukovych’s headquarters, commandeering a bulldozer to break through police lines.
Sunday’s protests are being described as the biggest seen in Kyiv since the Orange Revolution nine years ago
The demonstrations went ahead in defiance of a sudden ban imposed by a court
Protests have been growing over the Ukrainian government’s decision to stall on a deal that would bring closer ties with the European Union
Police used tear gas and stun grenades to force back the crowd, who responded by throwing bricks.
The Associated Press news agency said that dozens of people with what appeared to be head injuries were taken away by ambulances.
A police spokeswoman told AFP news agency that about 100 police were injured in the clashes there.
The mainstream opposition and its leaders said they had nothing to do with those engaged in violence near the presidential headquarters, and that it was the work of “provocateurs”.
About a kilometre away, at the city council building, protesters broke windows to get inside the building and occupy it.
They chanted “Kyiv is ours” and hung a Ukrainian flag in the window.
The protests started more than a week ago after President Yanukovych suspended preparations for signing an EU association agreement that would have opened borders to goods and set the stage for an easing of travel restrictions.
Mr Yanukovych argued that Ukraine could not afford to sacrifice trade with Russia, which opposed the deal.
The Ukrainian president has said he is “deeply outraged” by events at opposition protests in Kyiv.
He was speaking after police violently dispersed an opposition camp on Saturday. Several Western countries condemned the police intervention.
Jailed opposition leader and ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko earlier urged Ukrainians “not to leave the authorities’ actions unanswered”.
She has been on hunger strike since Monday over the failure to sign the EU agreement.