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Jan 30, 2024

Ukrainian police launch fresh assault on anti

Squads of Ukrainian anti-riot police have launched a fresh assault against

Squads of Ukrainian anti-riot police have launched a fresh assault against opposition protesters in Kiev's Independence Square, less than 24 hours after the bloodiest day since the former Soviet republic won its independence.

Police protected by a barrier of shields were destroying protesters' tents and anti-government posters on the eastern side of the square.

But protesters, many of them masked and in battle fatigues, poured onto the square from another direction, ready to take on police for a second straight day.

As priests intoned prayers from a stage on the part of the square still held by protesters, young men in hard-hats were constructing elbow and knee pads - protection against baton blows.

Others were pouring liquid into bottles - apparently to be used as petrol bombs.

Across the square, people were using pickaxes to tear up cobblestones to use as projectiles against police.

After hours of clashes on Tuesday, which left dozens dead on both sides, police gained ground in Independence Square - the centre of three months of protests against president Viktor Yanukovych.

The square resembled a battle-zone with black smoke and flames belching from a trade union building, used as an anti-government headquarters.

The Health Ministry, updating the casualty toll, said 26 people had been killed in the fighting in the capital, 10 of which were police officers.

Many were killed by gunshot and hundreds of people were injured, with dozens in serious condition, police and opposition representatives said.

But Tuesday's bloodshed did little to deter the protesters.

"They can come in their thousands but we will not give in," said a 44-year-old from the western region of Ternopil, who gave only his first name of Volodymyr.

"We simply don't have anywhere to go. We will stay until victory and will hold the Maidan until the end."

The Maidan is the local name for Independence Square.

In a statement posted online, Mr Yanukovych said he had refrained from using force since unrest began but was being pressed by "advisers" to take a harder line.

"Without any mandate from the people, illegally and in breach of the constitution of Ukraine, these politicians - if I may use that term - have resorted to pogroms, arson and murder to try to seize power," the president said.

"I have persistently called for people to refrain from radical actions. But they have not listened.

Fierce protests have raged in Ukraine since the government announced it would side with Russia and no longer pursue membership of the EU.

"I repeat: It is still not too late to listen to each other. It is still not too late to stop the conflict."

He declared a day of mourning for the dead on Thursday (local time).

A senior opposition leader, world champion boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko, walked out of a meeting with Mr Yanukovych during the night, saying he could not negotiate while blood was being spilt.

"The government must immediately withdraw troops and put an end to the bloody conflict, because people are dying," Mr Klitschko said after the late-night talks.

"I told Yanukovych this. How can we hold talks while blood is being shed?"

European Union foreign ministers have called an emergency meeting for Thursday to discuss the crisis.

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said the 28-nation bloc was set to impose sanctions against those blamed for the bloodshed.

"We have ... made it clear that the EU will respond to any deterioration on the ground," he said in a statement.

"We therefore expect that targeted measures against those responsible for violence and use of excessive force can be agreed by our member states as a matter of urgency."

French president Francois Hollande backed Poland's call for "quick and targeted sanctions against those responsible".

German chancellor Angela Merkel was "deeply saddened" by the escalation but a spokeswoman said "we are not yet there" when asked whether the time for EU sanctions had arrived.

Diplomats cautioned that any sanctions would be largely a political gesture, noting that similar Western measures had failed to sway the rulers of Belarus or Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, US vice-president Joe Biden has called Mr Yanukovych, urging him to pull back government forces and exercise maximum restraint.

The unrest has spread to at least three cities in the western part of the country.

Police said protesters had seized regional administration headquarters in the cities of Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv.

Media reported that protesters torched the main police station in the city of Ternopil.

The authorities have restricted traffic coming into the capital to prevent protesters from getting reinforcements. Kiev authorities also closed down the underground.

Nationwide demonstrations erupted in November after Mr Yanukovych bowed to Russian pressure and pulled out of a planned far-reaching trade pact with the European Union, deciding instead to accept a Kremlin bailout for the heavily indebted economy.

Western powers warned Mr Yanukovych against trying to smash the pro-European demonstrations, urging him to turn back to the European Union and the prospect of an IMF-supported economic recovery, while Russia accused them of meddling.

Ukraine has been rocked periodically by political turmoil since gaining independence from the Soviet Union more than 22 years ago, but it has never experienced violence on this scale.

ABC/wires