KIEV, April 08. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine's parliament-appointed Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has threatened to fire 30% of police staff in the city of Kharkiv in the east of the country.

"I said yesterday that a considerable number of police officers not so much had been serving their Motherland as sabotaging the process. I believe at least 30% of Kharkiv police will be dismissed," Avakov told a news briefing on Tuesday.

Avakov praised other police forces, such as Berkut, which took part in an operation Tuesday morning to clear the building of regional administration set on fire by the protesters.

The fire was extinguished and police rounded up some 70 protesters suspected of illegal actions. The detainees are kept in pre-trial detention centers outside their home region.

Law-enforcement bodies did not use firearms during the operation. Preliminary reports said the Jaguar unit based in the Vinnitsa region had taken part in the operation.