KIEV, January 20. /ITAR-TASS/. Clashes of protesters with fighters of the Interior Troops and the Berkut special police units continue for more than 16 hours in the center of Kiev in Grushevsky Street near the Dynamo stadium. The total number of the injured from both sides has exceeded 100, the protesters have burned four police buses and two trucks.
The number of protesters has now considerably decreased - there are currently about 2,000 of them. Law enforcers have cordoned off several areas up Grushevsky Street and in Mariinsky Park near the Building of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) of Ukraine. Many fighters of the Berkut unit are outside the Ukrainian presidential administration and government buildings. Almost no policemen are seen near the presidential administration building, but there are dozens of police buses there. Special force fighters are apparently in them.
- Undemocratic laws may increase tension in Ukraine
- Pro-European supporters gather for another rally in Ukraine
- Ukrainian opposition suggests creating alternative parliament
- Over 70 law enforcers injured during unrest in Kiev, and about 40 hospitalized
- Militia buses,and trucks on fire in downtown Kiev, the opposition puts up resistance
The protesters have built a barricade in Petrovskaya Alley, leading to Park Road, to defend themselves from possible Berkut attacks. They make periodical sallies, throwing paving slab pieces at the policemen, which respond with stun grenades.
There are iced remains of burnt police buses and trucks between the demonstrators and security forces. Law enforcement officers were trying to extinguish the fire and doused them with water from fire hoses. As a result, they turned into an ice barricade.