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| More and more protesters arrive on Independence Square after night's storming (Image: Forbes UA) |
Nearly 10-20 thousand protesters have gathered in Kyiv downtown on
Independence Square on Wednesday night as security forces, riot police and
special forces “Berkut” started to surround the site of protests and storm
Euromaidan.
Storm has started at 1:30 a.m. local time, as the huge line of riot
police and “Berkut” equipped with the shields and sticks has started their
storm of the peaceful protests located on Independence Square and in the governmental
district. Barricades and block posts of protesters in the governmental district
have been destroyed by the police, police pushed protesters back to the Square.
Riot police has been approaching Maidan from several directions surrounding the
protests site and taking it into a narrow circle. People have been holding
their positions trying to protect the barricades. Politicians, activists,
artists and priests have been calling from the stage to the policemen and
soldiers to disobey criminal orders to attack their own people.
Situation was extremely tense as there was a serious threat of a force scenario
with the violent dispersal of the protests. More and more people have arrived
to Independence Square right in the middle of the night, with the numbers of
protesters increasing rapidly. Soon the numbers of protesters overwhelmed the
number of security forces, thus the soldiers and policemen have been just
standing on the Independence Square without doing anything.
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| Protesters on Independence Square after attempts to disperse it (Image: Deutsche Welle) |
Attempts to disperse the protests on Euromaidan happened in the night as
just a few hours before Victor Yanukovich had a meeting with Catherine Ashton, EU
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of EU,
and with Victoria Nuland, Deputy of USA State Secretary John Kerry. In addition
to that many EU and other Western politicians and diplomats are presented in
Kyiv and arrived in order to follow the situation in Ukraine and calling for
Ukrainian government and President to hold negotiations with opposition to find
the way out of the crisis.
Victor Yanukovich has assured Catherine Ashton during the earlier
meeting that the dialogue will be organized and there will be no use of forces
against protesters and no attempts of dispersal. Thus the Wednesday night’s
events actually slapped EU and Western politicians as all the promises made
earlier were broken and calls and demands of protesters ignored.
USA officials declared they are following Ukrainian recent events with
the deep concern. Many European politicians and diplomats have also strongly
condemned Wednesday night’s storming of protesters.
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| Riot police ans "Berkut" storming Maidan and destroying the barricades (Image: Reuters) |
According to the recent reports, EU Catherine Ashton is holding
currently an emergency meeting with the diplomats and ambassadors of 25
countries in Ukraine in order to discuss this night’s events and the possible
ways out of the crisis.
Meanwhile more and more protesters continue to arrive to Maidan.
Protesters from other Ukrainian cities are also coming to Kyiv. Protesters have
extremely good level of self organization, as the life came back to normal in
the stormed protesters’ camp. All the previously destroyed tents have been
erected again; the barricades have been also rebuilt on the entrances to
Independence Square and to the governmental district. Building of Kyiv City
Council is again controlled by protesters.
President of Ukraine Victor Yanukovich hasn’t made any comments or
statements regarding the recent events. Meanwhile huge column of the cars with
protesters gathers now to march to the residence of President in Mezhygirya.
Security forces and roit police have withdrawn currently from Maidan.
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