L
LequteMan
Guest
No fewer than 10 people, including a former interior minister, were injured in the early hours of Saturday in clashes between riot police and protesters outside a courthouse in Ukraine's capital Kiev.
In the first clashes since last month, police using tear gas and batons tried to disperse a couple of hundred people protesting against three activists being sentenced to six years in jail, a case seen by protesters as politically-motivated.
About 10 kilometres away, several thousand people have set up camp in central Kiev to protest against President Viktor Yanukovich's decision to abandon the trade agreement with Europe in favour of closer cooperation with Russia.
Protests started in late November and increased significantly in early December after riot police violently broke up a student demonstration in Kiev's main square.
Yuri Lutsenko, a minister in the government of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, was among the injured protesters.
Lutsenko, who was pardoned last year by Yanukovich, was hit in the head, witnesses said.
However, the police said in a statement that they had no information about anyone being injured.
In the first clashes since last month, police using tear gas and batons tried to disperse a couple of hundred people protesting against three activists being sentenced to six years in jail, a case seen by protesters as politically-motivated.
About 10 kilometres away, several thousand people have set up camp in central Kiev to protest against President Viktor Yanukovich's decision to abandon the trade agreement with Europe in favour of closer cooperation with Russia.
Protests started in late November and increased significantly in early December after riot police violently broke up a student demonstration in Kiev's main square.
Yuri Lutsenko, a minister in the government of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, was among the injured protesters.
Lutsenko, who was pardoned last year by Yanukovich, was hit in the head, witnesses said.
However, the police said in a statement that they had no information about anyone being injured.