You're reading: Internet service provider pulls plug on riot police web access

In a move certain to garner the respect of dozens of those injured in clashes with riot police on Nov. 30, one internet service provider has halted web access for a local special forces unit.

In a statement posted to its website,
Brovis, an internet service provider for the Kyiv suburb of Brovary, said that
after three years of providing free web access to the Brovary Berkut (special
riot police) it had pulled the plug.

“Given
recent events at (Independence) Square… we decided to stop providing access to
the Internet for Brovarskiy Berkut,” reads a Brovis statement.

In the
early morning hours on Nov. 30, some 1,000 Berkut officers violently dispersed
a group of about 400 peaceful protesters who were camped on Independence Square
in central Kyiv. 

Videos of the incidents show the riot police indiscriminately beating
the protesters with rubber batons. Police continued to pursue the group even
after they’d left the square, chasing them down and hitting them in the
streets.

One
eyewitness told
the Kyiv Post
that the riot police were like “a machine cleaning the
street.” Another
said
that the steps on the square were “covered in blood.”

The Ministry
of Interior said
that protesters were to be blamed for provoking the
actions of the Berkut unit.

Kyiv Police Chief Valeriy Koriak admitted to ordering the attack
on Nov. 30. He tendered
his resignation
on Dec. 1.

The event sparked international
outrage
.

Brovis, the
internet service provider, only wishes it could do more than revoke the Berkut’s
web access. “It is a pity that we can not also block their light and water,”
the company said. “Glory to Ukraine!”

Kyiv Post editor Christopher J. Miller can be
reached at [email protected].