Ukrainian police yesterday pulled back as protesters claimed victory after an overnight face-off in which authorities removed barricades and tents and scuffled with demonstrators occupying Kiev’s main square.
Squadrons of police in helmets and bearing metal shields converged at about 1am on Independence Square, but thousands of protesters put up fierce resistance for hours, shoving back at police lines to keep them away from key sites.
The Ukrainian chief of police issued a statement insisting there would be no attempt to break up the demonstrations.
Photo: Reuters
Protesters have been gathering around the clock to demand the resignation of the government in a crisis that threatens the leadership of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
“I want to calm everyone down — there will be no dispersal,”’ Ukrainian Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko said on the ministry’s Web site. “No one is encroaching on the rights of citizens to peaceful protest.”
Three police buses that had been parked outside the building all night drove away to cheers and shouts of “shame!” from several thousand protesters who remained on the square.
Photo: AFP / Party Press-Service
Another group of police that had been stationed outside the Kiev city hall building, which has been occupied by protesters for weeks, also departed.
“This is a great victory,” Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a top opposition leader, shouted from the stage at Independence Square.
Throughout the standoff the police appeared to be under orders to refrain from excessive force, unlike the violent beatings of protesters in recent weeks.
Several demonstrators and police were injured, but police helped injured activists up from the ground and moved them away.
The protests began late last month when Yanukovych backed away from a pact that would deepen the former Soviet republic’s economic ties with the 28-nation EU — a pact that surveys showed was supported by nearly half the country’s people.
However, police violence has become one of the main catalysts for the growing protest movement and the government has appeared to back off from heavy-handed police tactics.
Western officials issued strong statements as the crackdown unfolded. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland were on visits to Kiev at the time.
US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed US “disgust with the decision of Ukrainian authorities to meet the peaceful protest ... with riot police, bulldozers, and batons, rather than with respect for democratic rights and human dignity.”
“The United States stands with the people of Ukraine. They deserve better,’’ he said.
Nuland said yesterday that the US believes it is possible to save Ukraine’s “European future” and Yanukovich must lead the way.
After talks with Yanukovych that lasted more than two hours, she told reporters: “We also made clear that we believe there is a way out for Ukraine and it is still possible to save Ukraine’s European future, and that’s what we want to see the president lead, and that’s going to require immediate security steps.”
Nuland, who spoke to protesters and police in Kiev’s central Independence Square earlier in the day, also said she had complained to Yanukovych about police moves against protesters overnight.
“I made it absolutely clear to him that what happened last night ... is absolutely impermissible in a European state and in a democratic state,” she said, describing talks with Yanukovych as “tough” but “realistic.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from