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Over 100 people block Odessa police department urging to release federalization supporters

The Odessa police detained 160 “most active participants in mass riots” and opened criminal proceedings on charges of “mass disorders”

KIEV, May 04 /ITAR-TASS/. More than 100 people have blocked the building of the Odessa department of the Ukrainian interior ministry urging to release federalization supporters who were detained on May 2, local media reported on Sunday.

The Odessa police detained 160 “most active participants in mass riots” and opened criminal proceedings on charges of “mass disorders” and “threats and violence against law enforces,” the press service of the Ukrainian interior ministry said on Saturday.

Unrests erupted on Friday, May 2, with a mass fight started by football fans from Kharkov, Right Sector radicals and members of the so-called “Maidan self-defence” force from Kiev, who had decided to march along the streets of Odessa, thus provoking clashes with the supporters of Ukraine’s federalization. Radicals set fire to the building of the Odessa region Trade Union House and a tent camp where federalization supporters collected signatures in favour of holding a referendum on the federalization of Ukraine and granting the official state language status to the Russian language. As a result, 46 people were killed and over 200 had requested medical attention.