11.12 Ukrainian Police Launch Assault on Kiev Barricades

KIEV, December 11 (RIA Novosti) – Elite riot police and Interior Ministry forces clashed with opposition supporters in the Ukrainian capital Kiev early Wednesday, dismantling barricades that protesters put up in the streets to disrupt access to government buildings.

Most barricades were removed from the downtown Independence Square, but a crowd estimated by opposition leaders at some 25,000 resisted attempts to disperse them.

At least 10 Interior Ministry troops were injured in the clashes, the ministry said.

Media reported several injured among the protesters, who managed to retake the square after losing ground in the initial police assault.

The police denied reports that Berkut riot police officers beat up elderly people on Independence Square.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and the EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton denounced the overnight crackdown.

Street protests have been ongoing in Ukraine since President Viktor Yanukovych made an 11th-hour decision last month not to sign a long-awaited association agreement with the EU, opting instead for closer cooperation with Russia.

The protests intensified after the Berkut unit’s harsh suppression of protesters in Independence Square on November 30, when dozens of students and a number of reporters were beaten up.

Up to 800,000 people rallied in Kiev in the days after the first Berkut crackdown.

Opposition leaders have demanded the dissolution of the government and snap legislative and presidential elections.

Yanukovych’s government rejected those demands, but said earlier this week it was ready for talks with its opponents.