KIEV, February 20. /TASS/. Activists of Ukraine’s extremist organization Right Sector have plunged into clashes with National Guard officers in central Kiev, News One television channel said on Saturday.
"I am witnessing clashes between the radical Right Sector and national guards. Right Sector activists told us they tries to bring tents to the maidan [Kiev’s central Independence Square, or Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Ukrainian, a traditional venue of grass-roots protests - TASS]," News One correspondent said.
Dozens of men in fatigues seize hotel in central Kiev
Dozens of men in fatigues who call themselves activists of the Radical Right Forces organization have seized a hotel in central Kiev, the local news outlet Zerkalo Nedeli said on Saturday.
"About 50 men in fatigues have taken a number of premises at the Kozatsky hotel on Maidan Nezalezhnosti [Kiev’s central Independence Square, the venue of grass-roots protests that gave its name - ‘maidan’ - to protest movements across the country]. They occupied a conference hall and let no one there and they are using it as their headquarters to outline their further actions," the Zerkalo Nedeli said.
The hotel however continues to operate in a regular regime, with activists standing at the entranceway and letting the hotel guests in and out.
The Radical Right Forces is an amalgamation of a number of radical right organizations, including former activists of the notorious Right Sector (which is outlawed in Russia) and the Azov paramilitary battalion. Many of its members took part in combat operations in Donbass.
Earlier on Saturday, several dozens of activists showered stones and firecrackers on oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. After that, the crowd attacked banks owned by Russian nations, including Alfa Bank and Sberbank.
Later, the activists blocked traffic along Kiev’s central street, Kreshchatik, calling on Ukrainians to put tents in central Kiev to stage an open-ended strike. They said they plan to spend the coming night in the Independence Square, the Maidan.
On Saturday, Ukraine is marking the second anniversary of the victory of the so-called revolution of dignity and is remembering those killed in Maidan two years ago.