Russia Today: Teargas, fire, smoke as clashes erupt between police and protesters in Kyiv

Published Jan. 19, 2014 at 8:42 pm

A bus bursts into flames as protesters clash with police on January 19, 2014 during an opposition rally in the centre of the Ukrainian capital Kiev in a show of defiance against strict new curbs on protests. 200,000 protesters expressed frustration over the lack of a clear programme from the opposition leaders after almost two months of protests over the government's ditching of a pact with the EU under Russian pressure. Police used tear gas, stun grenades and water cannon in a bid to disperse the hundreds of people who sought to storm police cordons near the Verkhovna Rada parliament in the capital. AFP PHOTO/ GENYA SAVILOV

Photo by AFP

Ukrainian protesters clashed with police in Kiev after at least 10,000 people took to Independence Square for an anti-government demonstration. Police retaliation with tear gas and water cannons was prompted by an attempt to storm the government quarter.

What started as a peaceful demonstration on the city’s Independence Square, or Maidan, with heated anti-government slogans being shouted and the announcement that the opposition was creating a“people’s assembly,” turned into violent clashes with the police later Sunday.

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