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Ukraine protests: ‘war’ in Kyiv pushes death toll to 25

UKRAINIAN police launched a fresh attack on protesters in Kyiv this morning after overnight talks between the opposition and government broke down.

The last 24 hours have seen some of the worst violence in the three-month political crisis that has engulfed the Eastern European country. The scene in Independence Square, known locally as the Maidan, was described as “apocalyptic” as explosions echoed around the area, fires burned and fireworks were thrown. Tents and even people were in flames, as the death toll climbed to at least 25.

Protesters hurled rocks, broken paving stones and Molotov cocktails as armoured riot squads targeted them with stun grenades, water cannon and rubber bullets.

The violence erupted on Tuesday when around 20,000 protesters clashed with police outside parliament as they rallied in support of plans to strip President Viktor Yanukovych of a raft of powers.

Security forces gave the protesters a deadline of 6pm local time yesterday to leave the square, and when the deadline expired, riot police advanced with an armoured vehicle.

After the failed overnight talks, police launched a new assault shortly after 4am local time this morning.

Protesters held their defence lines, burning tyres on the barricades. However, one BBC correspondent said police had this morning taken control of a corner of the square for the first time since December.

Authorities claim that nine of the dead were police, allegedly killed by gunshots. A journalist has also died, and there are fears that the number of dead may rise as hundreds of people are treated for injuries.

President Yanukovych blamed the opposition for the violence and urged them to distance themselves from radical elements of the protest.

Activists meanwhile have accused the authorities, with former boxing champion and opposition leader Vitali Klitschko urging protesters to protect their “small island of freedom”.

He added: “The state has launched a war against its own people. Responsible democratic countries cannot stand back and let this happen.”

Ukraine: 7 die in deadly Kyiv flare-up

18 February

SEVEN people are reported to have died and many more have been injured in new violence in Kyiv.

Protesters attempting to march on the Ukrainian parliament were stopped by police firing rubber bullets and stun grenades, according to the BBC. 

“The clashes came as MPs were due to debate changes to the constitution,” the BBC reported. “The proposals would restore the 2004 constitution and curb the powers of President Viktor Yanukovych, but the opposition say they were blocked from submitting their draft.”

The Times reports that “several hundred protesters briefly seized President Yanukovych’s party headquarters after attacking it with Molotov cocktails.” They later withdrew as the buidling caught fire.

If the seven deaths are confirmed it will take the total death toll of protesters to 13.

How did the original protests begin?

The protests, nicknamed ‘EuroMaidan’, began in November after Yanukovych refused to sign an Association Agreement with the EU at the Eastern Partnership summit in Lithuania in November, thus derailing three years of talks with the EU.

Protesters argued that by refusing to loosen ties with Russia, Yanukovych was denying Ukraine the economic and social benefits of a relationship with the EU.

The protests began in Independence Square but quickly spread across the country. At one point, up to a million protesters were demanding the removal of President Yanukovych from office.

“The Ukrainians have never had their own country. And it’s already been, how long? How long can you wait for independence?” one protester told the Daily Telegraph.

Who are the protesters?

Yanukovych’s refusal to sign the EU deal appears to have unified opposition groups in protest. Politicians from across the political spectrum, as well as hundreds of thousands of ordinary Ukrainians, had previously attended the protests.

Also in attendance were members of the ultra-nationalist party Svoboda and Arseniy Yatnenyuk, leader of Ukraine’s second largest party, Fatherland – and a bitter rival of President Yanukovych.

The best-known political figure in attendance is former boxing champion and leader of the Udur party Vitali Klitschko, who aims to run for president in 2015. His party advocates cutting ties with Russia and turning towards Europe instead. However, in this weekend’s protests, Klitschko has been out on the streets urging protesters to refrain from attacking police.

How has the world responded to the protests?

Vladimir Putin has said that the protests have “nothing to do with Ukraine-EU relations”, reports Russia Today. Putin has placed the blame on “outside actors” for the protests, which he said were an “attempt to unsettle Ukraine’s legitimate rulers”.  

Over the weekend, Washington and other Western capitals denounced the new laws banning rallies as undemocratic but also urged both sides to “de-escalate the situation”.

Channel 4’s Matt Frei describes the situation as “a proxy cold war, played out on Ukraine’s streets”, while the Economist suggests that “with hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians defying their thuggish post-Soviet government, the battle for Ukraine as an independent country has started in earnest”.

However, Alexei Pushkov, the head of the Russian foreign affairs committee warned Ukrainians against a partnership with Europe. “There is an attempted raid on Ukraine, not from Moscow but Brussels, grabbing it by the neck and dragging it to paradise”, he said. “The word ‘paradise’ should be in inverted commas, of course. For Bulgaria, Greece and even for Serbia, which is just an EU candidate country, the promised ‘paradise’ turned to hopeless gloom.”
 

Ukrainian protesters attack police to defy new protest ban

20 January

PROTESTERS have clashed with riot police in Kyiv after tough anti-protest legislation was rushed through parliament last week.

The political opposition called on the public to ignore the new laws, which they claim pave the way for a police state, but appealed for calm. Nevertheless, protesters threw smoke bombs, fireworks and other objects at police, while a group of young masked demonstrators attacked a cordon of police with sticks. Some tried to overturn a bus blocking their way to the parliament building.

Around 30 police were said to have been hurt, with more than ten admitted to hospital, four of them in “serious” condition. As tensions continued into Sunday night, police used water cannon against demonstrators gathered near the heavily protected government headquarters.

It is the latest in a series of protests in the country since Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych made a policy U-turn in November away from the European Union towards Russia, Ukraine’s former Soviet overlord. ·