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Ukrainians mark 4th anniversary of EuroMaidan Revolution killings (PHOTOS)

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Relatives of anti-government protesters killed during the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2014 take part in a rally called "Remember" in central Kyiv on Feb. 19, commemorating the fourth anniversary of the bloodiest stage of the protests.
Photo by Kostyantyn Chernichkin

Ukrainians on Feb. 18-20 marked the fourth anniversary of the bloody culmination of the EuroMaidan Revolution, which forced former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych from power.

Yanukovych fled after his security forces gunned down dozens of unarmed protesters — more than 100 in all — in central Kyiv on Feb. 20 as they advanced towards the Presidential Administration building. Most of those killed on that day were shot by snipers.

The worst violence of the protests broke out on Feb. 18, when EuroMaidan activists attempted to march on parliament, demanding that Ukraine revert to an earlier form of the Constitution, which would have stripped Yanukovych of certain powers.

They clashed with massed riot police and “titushki” thugs hired by the government, and were forced back to their base at Maidan Nezalezhnosti.

For the next two days the riot police, led by Yanukovych’s Berkut special police, who were especially hated for their murderous brutality, laid siege to the protesters’ encampment, at one stage practically overrunning it.

However, police retreated early on Feb. 20, and the protesters began to advance again. It was then that most of the killings happened. Snipers shot the unarmed protesters as they advanced up the hill from the Maidan, past Hotel Ukraina, towards the Presidential Administration.

Yanukovych fled Ukraine on Feb. 22 after protesters threatened to remove him by force if he did not step down.