Police reportedly arrested 25 anti-gay activists for trying to violently disrupt a gay rights march in Kyiv on June 6.
The clashes came on June 6 after the gay activists vowed to go ahead with the march, despite threats from Right Sector leader Dmitro Yarosh, a militant who holds anti-gay views and who vowed to stop the rally.
Police outnumbered gay activists at the Equality March in Obolon District. Several injuries were reported — mainly to police officers, not gay activists — as officers struggled to fend off attacks from dozens of the right-wing group. The attackers threw firecrackers at parade participants through the police cordon, according to Interfax-Ukraine, while police reported that screwdrivers, knives and other dangerous objects were seized from those detained.
Participants say the Right Sector attackers called for all gays to be killed. The Right Sector also fields a battalion of soldiers in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Its attempts to disrupt the march were condemned during a June 5 press conference by President Petro Poroshenko.
Interfax-Ukraine reported that five police officers were injured, including one hospitalized in serious condition, but no confirmed civilian injuries were immediately reported.
Several journalists, including two from the Kyiv Post, were at the scene. More details will follow.
