Police report injuries, negotiate return of seized buildings

“At
4 p.m., in the government quarters of the city, about a hundred
police officers were injured. They suffered from groups of
provocateurs throwing firebombs , rocks, as well as used fireworks,”
the city police told Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

Petro
Poroshenko, one of the opposition leaders, has said that there were
about 1,500 people who tried to instigate provocations outside of the
president’s administration building. He said he officially reported
them as a crime to the police.

Police
tried to storm through the fence outside of the president’s
administration, and used a front-loader to break through barriers and
rows of riot police defending the building. There were several
attempts to break through, but soon after 4 p.m. the police dispersed
the crowd with the use of gas bombs and tear gas.

However,
two other buildings – the City Hall and the Trade Unions building
on Maidan Nezalezhnosti were taken over by the protesters. Oleh
Tyahnybok, leader of Svoboda, said the city hall was taken over by
his party’s people.

“We’re
currently negotiating with people in the city administration and the
trade unions hours,” a police spokesman told Interfax-Ukraine.
“They are being explained that their actions are illegal and asked
to voluntary leave the building, otherwise some measures will be
taken.”

Batkivshchyna,
the main oppositional party, announced that the opposition plans to
set up a press center on the second floor of the city hall.