The disorder in Lviv on May 9 was provoked by people wearing the armbands of the Svoboda Party, Deputy Interior Minister and Head of the Department of Public Safety Police at the Ukrainian Interior Ministry Viktor Ratushniak said at a press conference on Wednesday.
"Based on the video footage we have already watched, I can say that the provocations were clearly committed by one side," he said.
When asked which side he meant, Ratushniak said that "the video shows that these are people wearing armbands with the Svoboda insignia."
He said that five criminal cases on the violation of public order in Lviv on May 9 had currently been opened, and that in three of them the identity of offenders had already been established. Ratushniak also said that the police had drafted seven administrative reports on the violation of public order, with all persons mentioned in these reports being residents of Lviv and Lviv region.
Ratushniak also said that 17 people had sought medical assistance after the clashes on May 9. He said that the most serious injury was a wound suffered by a young man from a rubber bullet, and that the rest were scratches and bruises. He said that the police did not have the gun from which the shot was fired, but it had been established that it was a gun for firing rubber bullets. Ratushniak said that the owner of this weapon had a legal permit and that he was a former police officer who retired from the police three years ago.
When asked how he rated the work of the police in Lviv, Ratushniak said that the police on May 9 "did their work in line with law" and in accordance with the situation.
"Despite the fact that there were attempts to destabilize the situation, the police prevented the escalation of individual violations of public order into mass disorder," he said.
As for a protocol on the unfurling of a red flag on the Hill of Glory, Ratushniak said that the document had been drafted by the enforcement service of the regional department of justice and that this protocol would be submitted directly to the courts.
