Berkut special police officers encircled around 20 people that were heading towards the Olympiysky National Sports Complex to stage a protest on June 11.
According to an Interfax-Ukraine reporter, the protesters included BYT-Batkivschyna parliamentary faction MP Yuriy Odarchenko. The MP showed the police a document that allegedly permitted to stage the protest.
A scuffle occurred between the oppositionists and an unidentified instigator as the protesters made an attempt to walk to the stadium.
The protesters brought national flags, flags of the united opposition, posters depicting former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko. Some of the protesters wore embroidered shirts.
The participants of the protest did not try to break through the police encirclement.
Fans wearing uniforms of the national teams of Ukraine, Poland, and Sweden and T-shirts reading "Free Yulia" gathered near the oppositionists encircled by Berkut.
Meanwhile, the capital’s main police office told Interfax-Ukraine that there was no scuffle between the oppositionists and Berkut special police officers. The police office also said that physical force was not used against the protesters.
According to the public liaisons department of the main department of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine in Kyiv, any rallies on the territory near the Olympiysky Sports Complex were prohibited by court.
The capital’s police called on the organizers and participants of the protest not to break the laws, plan their rallies in advance, and respect interests and preferences of other Ukrainian citizens and foreign guests that came to Kyiv to attend Euro 2012.
