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Journalist, police officers suffer injuries in extremists’ riot in Kiev

A scandal involving the Inter TV channel revolved around a scheduled concert program dedicated to Victory Day in which hosts criticized the "decommunization" process in Ukraine

KIEV, May 10. /TASS/. A journalist and three law enforcers have suffered injuries in riots staged by members of the National Corps far-right party near the home of Sergei Levochkin, the deputy head of the Opposition Bloc faction and a co-owner of the Inter TV channel, Kiev region police spokesman Nikolai Zhukovich said on Thursday.

"A journalist who got stuck between protesters and law enforcers suffered injuries. He has filed a report to the police," he said as cited by the Ukrainian News Agency.

According to Zhukovich, law enforcers also received injuries. "One of them has been taken to the hospital and another two were given medical assistance on the spot," he added.

A scandal involving Inter revolved around a scheduled concert program dedicated to Victory Day in which hosts criticized the "decommunization" process in Ukraine. National Corps members blocked the channel’s offices in Kiev in order to prevent the concert’s broadcast on May 9. However, the program went on air and was broadcast in full.

On May 10, extremists assaulted the home of the channel’s owner Sergei Levochkin, painting it with graffiti and putting up posters reading "Inter will be ours." They also said their protest against the TV channel and its owners was planned to be long-term.

Ukraine’s National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council has issued numerous warnings for Inter, one of the country’s most popular TV channels, and also fined it for broadcasting Soviet movies. Radical extremists have many times attacked the channel, accusing journalists of holding an "anti-state stance."