Initially, the people who came together in downtown mounted a car protest. Afterward, being persuaded by opposition leaders, the protesters headed for the building of the Supreme Rada, but were stopped by the police there. The Ministry of Internal Affairs said the protesters started to provoke the policemen and to hit them.
The radio station Radiosvoboda broadcast live the confrontations between the protesters and the police near the Supreme Rada’s building. There were used stones and tear gas. Most of the protesters had masks on their faces.
The EU Delegation in Kiev called on the protesters to refrain from using violence.
The protests in Ukraine started last November, when the country’s administration decided to suspend the procedures for the association with the EU. At the start of this year, the Supreme Rada adopted a set of laws banning protesters from staging different events.
