Ukrainian protesters seized back Kiev's Independence Square in fresh clashes with riot police on Thursday that left several injured and possibly two demonstrators dead.
The violence came
after a truce declared late on Wednesday by President Viktor Yanukovich,
who was due to meet the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland
shortly in Kiev.
Ukrainian
television showed two bodies lying on the ground near the square
covered by blankets following violence shortly after 9 a.m.,
when protesters surged forward into an area that had been taken by
police in heavy fighting between Tuesday and Wednesday.
The anti-government militants hurled fireworks and other projectiles. Police fired stun grenades.
Later,
television footage showed several injured protesters being led away by
helpers and several riot policemen being led off in the square by
opposition militants in combat fatigues.
Local
media said parliament, a few hundred meters from the square, had been
evacuated. It was unclear how the violence would affect Yanukovich’s
meeting with the European Union delegation or the foreign ministers’
plans to hold a news conference near the square later on Thursday
morning.
