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In Ukraine, protesters appear to be preparing for battle Ukraine appears headed for showdown as protesters battle with police
(about 3 hours later)
KIEV, Ukraine — After a night of street clashes, Ukraine moved further toward a showdown Monday as young men with steel rods and a willingness to use them against riot police seized the initiative from the cautious politicians at the helm of the protest movement. KIEV, Ukraine — A war of nerves, stones, molotov cocktails and a full-size catapult, punctuated by stun grenades, reset the calculations of Ukrainian politicians Monday and seemed to be moving the country closer to a final showdown.
Overnight, the focus of the protests against the government of President Viktor Yanukovych had switched from the well-barricaded Independence Square to the unprotected space of Grushevsky Street, where it begins its steep ascent toward the parliament building. Helmeted protesters and riot police spent the day skirmishing across a no-man’s land where they had fought in earnest the night before, and as darkness fell again Monday both sides prepared to push for an advantage, even as the city all around them went about its business.
The scene at the front line suggested that neither side was in a mood to give in. Long lines of police snaked across the sloping street, behind solid walls of shields. The protesters were clearly preparing for battle, having survived and persevered through the first night of physical confrontation since an aborted attempt by police to sweep into Independence Square more than a month ago. The young men who on Sunday evening had moved the focus of the two-month-old protest from the campsite at Independence Square to the battleground on nearby Hrushevsky Street were elated by the conflict and by their ability to stand up to the Berkut riot police who confronted them.
The nighttime fighting that raged into the early hours of Monday had been accompanied by fireworks and flash grenades, stone-throwing by protesters and forays by club-swinging police. But there was no doubt that one side or the other is likely to put an end to the Hrushevsky Street standoff and probably soon.
Television reports Monday morning showed police firing rubber bullets at protesters. One broadcast showed a man preparing a molotov cocktail, apparently to throw at police. Several burned-out police vans were coated with ice from water cannon blasts, accentuating the desolation of the scene. The opposition politicians who have been leading the protest have objected strenuously to a violent turn of events driven by nationalist groups looking for a fight with the authorities. But other demonstrators grudgingly applauded the escalation as the only possible step after the government pushed through draconian laws restricting freedom of speech and assembly late last week.
The Interior Ministry said several dozen troops had been injured in the clashes overnight. Protesters said 30 to 40 on their side had been hurt. President Viktor Yanukovych, the focus of the demonstrators’ anger, announced that his government would enter into talks with the opposition to find a way out of the crisis. But he said he wouldn’t take part in them. Leaders of the opposition parties appointed deputies to stand in for them. Deep into the evening, the talks finally started.
On a broad street before a row of burned-out buses, protesters were busily digging up paving stones so they’d be on hand. Others banged ceaselessly with sticks on pieces of sheet metal or with hammers on street signs. The percussive ring filled the smoky air in front of Dynamo Stadium. The protest began in November when Yanukovych backed off signing a trade agreement with the European Union, and it had recently been winding down out of exhaustion and frustration. But Yanukovych reignited it with the new legislation, which the opposition called a coup, and furious crowds filled the streets once more.
By Monday afternoon, the skirmishing had begun again. Police formed a solid line about 20 yards behind the row of buses that had been put in place as a barricade. The protesters formed a much more ragged line on their side, also about 20 yards back. Yanukovych addressed the nation Monday evening, urging dialogue and vowing to maintain peace.
Daredevils would run toward the buses, throwing paving stones at the police. Whenever the crowd seemed to be inching up behind them, the police would toss stun grenades and tear gas and move them back. “I believe in the people of Ukraine. I am sure of the wisdom of our people,” he said, according to the Interfax news service.
At one point, Interior Ministry troops also moved toward the buses and, surprisingly, began throwing stones back at the protesters, though not very effectively. “And I stand ready to serve the state and people faithfully and honestly for as long as I am strong enough to do this and the people have confidence in me.”
One group of protesters, meanwhile, was furiously constructing a catapult about eight feet high for later use. He warned that violence is a threat to the future of the nation.
Yanukovych has appointed a committee to try to find a solution to Ukraine’s crisis, and he told its members to meet Monday with the leaders of opposition parties, who were dismayed by the violent turn of events. The leader of the UDAR party, the boxer Vitali Klitschko, made an urgent appeal Monday to Ukrainians to travel to Kiev, bringing their cars and trucks to form more blockades. This was echoed later in the day by a protest organizer, Andrei Parubiy, who said he feared that a police attack on the Maidan, or Independence Square, was imminent.
Yanukovych’s Party of Regions posted a statement overnight blaming the fighting on Western intelligence services, which it said had provided intensive training to the protesters. Two journalists were reported among the injured, one from the U.S.-supported Radio Liberty and one from broadcaster Vesti. Ukrainian officials also said they had taken another Radio Liberty journalist into custody. The Radio Liberty videographer, identified as Ihor Iskhakov, was later released, reportedly with a broken nose, a possible concussion and numerous bruises. Kiev health officials said that 103 protesters were treated and 42 of them hospitalized late Sunday and early Monday. About 100 police officers were injured, the Interior Ministry said, and 61 of them hospitalized.
In Washington, Caitlin Hayden, the spokeswoman for the National Security Council, criticized the government over the weekend for provoking the protesters, particularly with the passage last week of harsh laws restricting freedom of speech and assembly. Police said 31 people have been detained. Two correspondents for U.S.-financed Radio Liberty were detained Monday while they were covering the protests but were later released, Radio Liberty reported. They said they had been beaten. Media officials in Kiev said at least 15 journalists had been hurt while covering the violence Sunday night and Monday.
The protests began in November, after Yanukovych refused to sign a long-planned trade agreement with the European Union. Instead, he sought a closer relationship and loans from Russia. That angered the Ukrainians who wanted a closer alignment with Europe and accused Yanukovych of falling under Russia’s sway. By Monday afternoon Hru­shevsky Street had become something of a spectacle. As supporters banged away on sheets of metal and hit street signs and lampposts over and over again with hammers, the percussive din filling the smoky air all day long, daredevils would break out of the crowd and run up to a barricade of burned-out buses, throwing paving stones at the solid police lines, about 30 yards back behind the buses and protected by a wall of shields.
Russian officials counter that the United States is stirring up trouble, manipulating Ukrainians. Whenever the crowd seemed to be inching up behind them, the police would toss stun grenades that emitted an irritant in their smoke, and the people would move back.
On Monday that theme was amplified by Leonid Slutsky, the head of Russia’s parliamentary committee on Eurasian integration, who accused “strategic friends” from the West of inflaming events in Ukraine. At one point a squad of Interior Ministry troops also moved up toward the buses and, surprisingly, began throwing stones back at the protesters. One group of protesters, meanwhile, had spent the day constructing a catapult, about eight feet high, which began heaving rocky missiles about 9 p.m..
“They finance them via various non-governmental organizations, which start problems that escalate into disturbances and violence not in line with civilized European ideas, to which Ukraine is being persistently urged,” Slutsky said as quoted by the Interfax news agency. The back-and-forth drew hundreds of onlookers, cheering as if at a soccer match. In the early evening several protesters threw molotov cocktails down from a ceremonial arch at the entryway to Dynamo Stadium, most of them falling harmlessly into a small park but eliciting cheers from the crowd.
E.U. officials have expressed concern about events in Ukraine, but some protesters are calling for more help. In Moscow, Russian officials have accused the United States of stirring up trouble, and on Monday Leonid Slutsky, the head of Russia’s parliamentary committee on Eurasian integration, accused “strategic friends” from the West of inflaming events in Ukraine.
Monday on Twitter, an opposition-minded young woman named Kateryna Kruk put it this way: “They finance them via various nongovernmental organizations, which start problems that escalate into disturbances and violence not in line with civilized European ideas, to which Ukraine is being persistently urged,” Slutsky was quoted by the Interfax news agency.
In Kiev, a member of parliament from the ruling Party of Regions, Vadym Kolesnichenko, made the same accusation.
European Union officials have expressed concern about events in Ukraine but said Monday that they will not consider sanctions against Yanukovych or his allies.
On Twitter on Monday, an opposition-minded young woman named Kateryna Kruk put it this way:
“EU is deeply concerned. I’m sure this thought’ll warm me up while facing riot police or going to jail for tweeting. Then I’ll be concerned too.”“EU is deeply concerned. I’m sure this thought’ll warm me up while facing riot police or going to jail for tweeting. Then I’ll be concerned too.”
Kathy Lally contributed to this report from Moscow. Lally reported from Moscow.