You're reading: Official says riot police raided EuroMaidan on Dec. 11 to clear way for transport

The riot police helped to clear the territory downtown Kyiv where pro-European protesters were staying at night because they did not want to block the movement of transport, Deputy Head of the Chief Investigation Department of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine Oleh Tatarov said on the Shuster Live program in Kyiv on Friday, December 13, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.

“If we analyze statistics, I mean the police officers, 5,000 law-enforcers mount guard in the central part of the city during a day. At night the number of the police officers is reduced to 2,000-2,500,” he said.

“The riot police carried out the operation to execute a court ruling at night so that the normal state of life was not disturbed and transport movement was not hampered,” Tatarov added.

He said that the riot police did not use force and impact munitions. “The police was executing the court ruling,” he said.