UKRAINE-CRISIS/STATUS-CLASHES Clashes erupt outside Ukraine parliament over draft law giving east special status

Record ID: 140659

  • Title: UKRAINE-CRISIS/STATUS-CLASHES Clashes erupt outside Ukraine parliament over draft law giving east special status
  • Date: 31st August 2015
  • Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (AUGUST 31, 2015) (REUTERS) FLAG WAVING DEMONSTRATORS AND POLICE GATHERED IN SQUARE OUTSIDE UKRAINE'S PARLIAMENT BUILDING SMOKE BILLOWING FROM BUILDING AS POLICE USE FIRE EXTINGUISHERS POLICE CLASHING WITH DEMONSTRATORS STICK BEING THROWN AT POLICE STANDING IN FRONT OF CROWD OF FLAG WAVING DEMONSTRATORS / CLASHES DEMONSTRATOR WITH FACE COVERED HURLING LIQUID FROM BOTTLE AT POLICE VARIOUS OF POLICE CLASHING WITH DEMONSTRATORS
  • Embargoed: 15th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAB7FXI8LG6Q4I46K838YDJS2P7
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Clashes erupted between police and a crowd of nationalist protesters demonstrating outside parliament in Kiev on Monday (August 31).
    Scuffles turned to fighting after demonstrators attempted to breach through a fence around the parliament building and police responded with tear gas.
    Several police officers and members of the Ukrainian national guard were injured when a grenade was thrown from the crowd demonstrating against a draft law to give special status to separatist regions, police said.
    A Reuters witness at the scene said several police were knocked off their feet by the blast. Two police were treated for wounds at the scene and there were pools of blood on the street.
    Ukraine's parliament voted for constitutional changes to give its eastern regions a special status that it hopes will blunt their separatist drive, but divisions among pro-Western lawmakers suggested they will have a rougher ride to become law.
    At a rowdy session, a total of 265 deputies voted in favour in the first reading of a "decentralisation" bill, backed by President Petro Poroshenko's political bloc and his government - 39 more than that required to go through.
    But many coalition allies, including former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, spoke against the changes and it is open to question whether Poroshenko will be able to whip up the necessary 300 votes for it to get through a second and final reading later this year.
    Approval of legislation for special status for parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which are largely controlled by Russian-backed separatists, is a major element of a peace agreement reached in Minsk, Belarus, in February.
    Though a ceasefire is under pressure from sporadic shelling and shooting which government troops and rebels blame on each other, Western governments see the deal as holding out the best possible prospect for peace and are urging Ukraine to abide by the letter of the Minsk agreement.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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