KIEV, January 25. /TASS/. Eighteen police officers and three protesters were hurt in clashes during a protest rally staged by Ukrainian entrepreneurs in front of the building of Ukraine’s Verkhova Rada (parliament), Kiev’s police said on Tuesday.

"Eighteen policemen and three protesters received bodily injuries of various degrees of gravity," Kiev’s police department said on its Facebook account.

According to the police, media reports that one of the protesters was killed are not true.

Two criminal cases were initiated on charges of hooliganism and the use of violence against law enforcers.

Representatives of small-and medium-sized businesses organized a protest rally in front of the Verkhovna Rada building demanding laws be adopted to simplify operation of businesses. Protesters tried to break into the building but were stopped by police. Clashes followed. Several protesters were detained but the rally organizers said it would be continued on the following day.