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Под зданием Рады пролилась кровь pic.twitter.com/4ImAOEd9ec
— 112.ua (@news112ua) August 31, 2015
Вже більше десятка поранених міліціонерів та нацгвардійців…кілька важких…швидких бачила всього 3 pic.twitter.com/JX0qPFFHo2 — Oksana Denysova (@OksanaDenysova) August 31, 2015
Things turn ugly. Men in balaclava’s drag riot police out of corridor and beat them up
— Stefan Huijboom (@SHuijboom) August 31, 2015
Rada violence pic.twitter.com/P8nXRKxrvo — Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) August 31, 2015
UPDATE (Via Sputnik News Agency)…
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry told RIA Novosti that some 100 were wounded in the clashes near the parliament’s building. According to Internal Minister Arsen Avakov’s adviser Anton Gerashenko, a National Guard soldier died from a fragment wound in the heart. The internal minister confirmed the information via his Twitter account.
Earlier, Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko told reporters that he had information about several casualties among the law enforcers, however, the Ukraine’s National Guard did not confirm the information about possible casualties.
According to the Ukrainian Internal Ministry’s press service, 10 law enforcement officers are in serious condition. The number of injured among the protesters is unknown so far.
According to advisor to the Ukraine’s Internal Minister Anton Gerashchenko, a grenade was thrown at law enforcers. The Internal Ministry considers the clashes a terrorist attack, he wrote.
“A grenade was just thrown at servicemen guarding the Verkhovna Rada [parliament]. Several National Guard soldiers have been seriously wounded. Their lives are in danger,” Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook.
Ukrainian Internal Minister Arsen Avakov wrote on his Facebook account that more than 30 were detained over the clashes, including the person who threw a grenade.
“Investigation and punishment are inevitable. Around 30 people are detained. There will be more. The person who threw the grenade has been caught, grenades have been seized, including an F1 maximum destruction grenade,” Avakov said.
Dozens of Ukrainian National Guard servicemen were wounded after being hit with a grenade while patrolling outside the parliament.
According to Ukraine’s Internal Minister’s aide, protesters used grenades and firearms in the attack outside the Verkhovna Rada building in Kiev.
Persons dressed in T-shirts with the logo of far-right Ukrainian Svoboda party were behind the grenade attack, Avakov said via Facebook. According to a statement of the Svoboda party, authorities are to blame for the clashes.
“We demand the resignation of Interior Minister of Ukraine Arsen Avakov, whose criminal inaction led to this tragedy,” the Svoboda party’s statement reads.
According to a Ukrainian lawmaker Alexei Goncharenko, a journalist of the French media Finance has been injured in the clashes; he is currently at a local hospital. Moreover, local police confirmed that two more journalists had also been wounded during the clashes in Kiev.
Via RT…
The Interior Ministry confirmed at least 10 troops had sustained injuries in the blast, saying some officers were seriously wounded.
“A combat grenade has been thrown at the Ukrainian special forces. Some of the servicemen from [Ukraine] National Guard have been seriously injured. Their life is in danger,” Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Kiev’s Interior Ministry, wrote on his Facebook page.
The Ukrainian National Guard said on Facebook at least twenty of its servicemen have been injured in the clashes in Kiev. Other sources put the number of those injured at 30.
Tweets from journalists at the scene said supporters of the radical group Right Sector were brutally attacking police officers.
The demonstrators attacked police with long sticks and threw at least one smoke bomb grenade, Russia’s RIA Novosti and TASS news agencies reported.
The Ukrainian UNIAN news agency also reported that smoke bombs were being thrown along with stones. Police are now trying to stop the demonstrators from storming the parliament building.
Both protesters and police officers are using tear gas against each other, UNIAN said.
The agency added that the protesters are reportedly shouting “Shame!” and “Impeachment!” in front of the parliament building, which is currently blocked from the outside.
At least one protester has been detained, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said in a statement.
A live feed by ‘112 Ukraina’ news channel also showed several police officers were injured in the clashes.
Earlier in the day, the parliament passed amendments to the Constitution on decentralization in the first reading. The amendments proposed by President Petro Poroshenko were supported by 265 of the parliament’s 450 lawmakers.
The lawmakers did not discuss giving a special status to Donbass, a historical area in eastern Ukraine that includes the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Since April 2014 the area has been fought over by pro-Kiev and anti-government forces.
Despite the special status for the war-torn areas being a separate bill, the protesters who came out in the capital Monday were angered by the prospect of Eastern Ukraine getting autonomy from the central government. Photos posted on social media showed people holding banners saying, “No to special status of Donbass,” and “Occupants in Donbass, go away.”
The protesters on Constitution Square in Kiev are from the right-wing Radical, Self-Help, Svoboda (Freedom) and Republican Platform parties. TASS news agency has estimated their number to be around 1,000.
Inside the parliament, members of the Radical party attempted to block the tribune as the debate got under way. The disruption was led by the leader of the Radical Party, Oleg Lyashko.
Lyashko, along with his fellow party member Igor Mosiychuk, have recently been accused of organizing a criminal group, kidnappings and torture. On Saturday, Ukraine’s prosecutor general opened a case against the two right-wing politicians.
References:
http://www.rt.com/news/313880-ukraine-radicals-protest-parliament/
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.