Dozens of protesters clashed with police in front of the Verkhovna Rada on Feb. 27, and multiple injuries were reported by both sides.
The standoff took place at the protest tent camp that was set up in front of the Verkhovna Rada in October and has been there since then.
Demonstrators clash with the police in front of the Verkhovna Rada on Feb. 27.
In the morning of Feb. 27, protesters from the town of Tyachiv in Zakarpattia Oblast came to the Verkhovna Rada building to demand President Petro Poroshenko’s resignation. The Liberation Movement, led by Samopomich party lawmakers Yegor Sobolev and Semen Semenchenko, supported the Tyachiv demonstrators.
The brawl started after police tried to prevent protesters from burning car tires by the entrance door to the parliament, according to the Kyiv Post reporter at the scene.
Both sides used wooden sticks and stones during the clashes, footage posted on YouTube shows.
Video of a brawl near the parliament on Feb. 27
The police said 11 of its officers had received injuries, including broken noses, jaws, collarbones and numerous bruises. The police said they had arrested nine protesters.
Video footage also shows police officers beating protesters and the police dragging a protester along the ground.
In a separate video filmed at the tent camp, several protesters can be seen receiving medical help from an ambulance. Some had bandaged heads, and one man in the video claimed police had struck him on the back.
Videos also show demonstrators with injured heads.
The Liberation Movement said that six protesters had been arrested and eight demonstrators had been injured.
Video filmed by the activists after the fights near parliament on Feb. 27
Sobolev said in a post on Facebook that his supporters would stop and question any lawmaker who didn’t vote for the creation of an Anti-Corruption Court.
Ukraine’s western donors are also demanding that the country establish an Anti-Corruption Court, which they say is needed to tackle the rampant corruption in the country.
Meanwhile, thousands of protestors marched in central Kyiv on Feb. 18 to demand Poroshenko’s resignation.
Protesters clash with the police in front of the Verkhovna Rada on Feb. 27.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov contributed reporting to the story.
