- Title: UKRAINE: Ukraine's pro-EU protesters scuffle with police in Kiev
- Date: 10th December 2013
- Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (DECEMBER 10, 2013) (REUTERS) ***NIGHT SHOTS*** ANTI-RIOT POLICE WITH SNOW COVERED HELMETS VARIOUS OF ANTI-RIOT POLICE STANDING BEHIND SHIELDS ANTI-RIOT POLICEMAN WITH VIZOR COVERED IN SNOW SMOKING A CIGARETTE PROTESTERS STANDING TOGETHER SINGING ANTI-RIOT POLICE MOVING IN ANTI-RIOT POLICE PUSHING FORWARD WITH THEIR SHIELDS LINE OF POLICE SPLITTING UP TO ALLOW POLICE TRUCK THROUGH VARIOUS OF POLICE PROTESTERS WITH THEIR FACES COVERED VARIOUS OF POLICE PULLING DOWN PROTEST TENTS VARIOUS OF ANTI-RIOT POLICE SCUFFLING WITH PROTESTERS ANTI-RIOT POLICE POLICEMAN WITH FACE COVERED ANTI-RIOT POLICE HOLDING THEIR BATONS UP
- Embargoed: 25th December 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ukraine
- City:
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA63FNGOED305U9WBQDFNIUJINF
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Defiant pro-Europe Ukrainian protesters scuffled with police in the capital Kiev on Tuesday (December 10) morning, as a deadline to clear the streets expired.
In a second week of protests against President Viktor Yanukovich's decision to abandon a trade deal with the EU in favour of closer ties with Russia, demonstrators feared the arrival of riot police heralded a plan to crush them by force.
Riot police and protesters were seen pushing each other in the snow-covered streets.
Police gave the protesters five days from last Thursday to leave the streets. Protesters said they will not go.
Liberals and nationalists have taken to the streets for demonstrations that have at times drawn hundreds of thousands. Thousands have also maintained an around-the-clock protest camp in the city centre, blocked roads, besieged government buildings and occupied the capital's city hall.
The police managed to avoid violence while pushing protesters back from positions around some government buildings.
Yanukovich is expected to meet the EU foreign affairs chief later on Tuesday as well as three former Ukrainian presidents who have proposed talks. The moves are among the president's first apparent concessions since the crisis erupted.
Ukraine's dire finances have both provoked the crisis and been worsened by it. EU leaders say their trade pact would have brought investment. But Ukraine's Soviet-era industry relies on Russian natural gas, giving the Kremlin enormous leverage.
The crisis has divided Ukraine's 46 million people between its mainly Russian-speaking East, where many view Moscow as a source of stability, and its West, where many native Ukrainian-speakers hope for integration into the European mainstream and despise Russia for decades of harsh Soviet-era oppression. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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