Acting on a court order and under the cloak of night, after 1 a.m. on Dec. 11 thousands of police and National Guard troops gained ground as they steadily advanced on Independence Square, taking down barricades, and arresting at least 10 protesters along the way.
Police say some have been released already, but wouldn’t
specify how many. However, the Kyiv Post witnessed police clubbing protesters,
including one being repeatedly beaten with a club wearing a Batkivshchyna party
jacket.
The European Union’s top diplomat Catherine
Ashton who spent time on the square just hours before after holding a 3.5-hour
meeting with President Viktor Yanukovych, was appalled at the police action.
“I’m still in Kyiv. I was among you on
Maidan in the evening and was impressed by the determination of Ukrainians
demonstrating for a European perspective of the country,” she said in a
statement. “Some hours later I observe with sadness that police uses force
to remove peaceful people from the center of Kyiv. The authorities didn’t need
to act under the coverage of night to engage with the society by using
police. Dialogue with political forces and society and use of arguments is
always better than the argument of force.”
The U.S. State Department issued a scathing statement
denouncing the police action:
“The United States expresses
its disgust with the decision of Ukrainian authorities to meet the peaceful
protest in Kyiv’s Maidan Square with riot police…and batons, rather than with
respect for democratic rights and human dignity, read the statement. “This
response is neither acceptable nor does it befit a democracy.”
After 2 a.m. police managed to divide the huge encampment of
protesters into three sections, sealing off the main trade union building from
the rest of Independence Square where some 250 protesters were holed up inside
bracing for an attack at any moment. After 3 a.m. some 200 National Guardsmen
surrounded City Hall. Protesters used a fire hose to spray water on the steps
and let it freeze as lights were shut off inside.
Meanwhile, sometime around 4 a.m. municipal workers dressed
in orange vests started to dismantle the barricade on Institutska Street, which
intersects Khreshchatyk Street.
Later, police said 10 of their own were injured in clashes
with protesters.
After 9 a.m. three buses of riot police arrived in front of
City Hall and were soon surrounded by some 2,000 protesters who shouted, “Shame!” Some 40 minutes later they disengaged and left the scene.
The two subway stations nearest Independence Square – Maidan
Nezalezhnosti and Khreshchatyk – have been closed for entry and exit since the
subway opened this morning at 5:30 a.m.
