KIEV, February 22. /TASS/. The participants in the rally in Independence Square in central Kiev known as Maidan have unblocked traffic on Kreshchatik, the city’s main street.
The traffic area was blocked for two days with plywood boards with pictures of those killed on Maidan in February 2014. According to the Levy Bereg newspaper, they have been moved back to the pedestrian area.
However, patrol police have not yet allowed traffic movement along the street.
On February 20, Ukraine marked the second anniversary of the victory of the so-called "Revolution of Dignity" and paid homage to those killed during the Maidan protests. However, the commemorative events grew into clashes. At first, several dozen people threw stones and petards at the office of Ukrainian tycoon Rinat Akhmetov. Then the crowd attacked the offices of Alfa-bank and Sberbank owned by Russians.
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.
On Saturday evening, about 50 men wearing camouflage uniforms took several premises in Kozatsky hotel located in Kiev’s Independence Square. According to some media outlets, the hotel was captured by the radicals but later it was reported that the radicals were leasing the hotel’s conference hall under agreement with the administration.
Most activists represent an organization Radical Right Forces, also known as Revolutionary Right Forces. This organization is an amalgamation of a number of radical right organizations, including former activists of the notorious Right Sector (outlawed in Russia) and the Azov paramilitary battalion. Many of its members took part in combat operations in Donbass.
Members of the Radical Right Forces demand "legal dismissal of the president and government," as follows from the organization’s statement adopted on Saturday.
However, in the evening there were only about 50 people in Independence Square. Radically-minded protesters have left Kozatsky hotel in central Kiev where they earlier organized their headquarters.