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| Protesters clash with police, Ukraine |
Hundreds of officers clashed with protesters as they used chainsaws and animal constrain to tear down barricades blocking access to the city's Independence Square, or Maidan, which has been the point of convergence of the protests.
The demonstrators are rankled by the refusal of Ukraine's Russian-partnered president, Viktor Yanukovych, to sign an understanding that might strengthen cooperation with the European Union.
The Interior Ministry said 10 policemen were harmed between 1 and 4 a.m. while following up on a court request to dislodge protesters from the downtown area and permit free development of activity.
Thousands of demonstrators have set up camp in the snow-secured square, dead set to look after their serene protest despite the frosty temperatures.
U.s. Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the authorities' response to the protest in a strongly worded statement.
"The United States expresses its disgust with the decision of Ukrainian authorities to meet the tranquil protest in Kyiv's Maidan Square with mob police, bulldozers, and batons, instead of with respect for equitable rights and human respect," he said.
"This response is not satisfactory or does it befit a majority rules system."
U.s. Vp Joe Biden had urged Yanukovych in a phone call Monday to respect vote based principles, incorporating opportunity of assembly, and listen to the voices of the Ukrainian individuals, Kerry said. "Instead, Ukraine's leaders seem tonight to have settled on an altogether different decision."
Kerry urged the "utmost restraint" by the authorities, saying "human life must be protected."
A picture posted to Twitter by the U.s. ambassador to Ukraine, Geoff Pyatt, showed Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland giving out nourishment Wednesday to security forces and protesters in the square.
The police crackdown came only hours after Eu remote arrangement boss Catherine Ashton held protracted talks with Yanukovych and visited the protest site in the focal square.
Her spokeswoman, Maja Kocijancic, tweeted a statement from Ashton, who is still in Kiev, voicing her concern that the police had moved in under blanket of darkness to tackle the protesters with energy.
"I was among you on Maidan in the nighttime and was impressed by the determination of Ukrainians demonstrating for the European perspective of their nation," she said. "Some hours after the fact I observe with sadness that police uses drive (to) uproot serene individuals from Kiev focus."
Ashton also met with opposition leaders Tuesday.
The scenes of protest have come to be reminiscent of the uprising that swept Yanukovych out of office nine years back throughout the Orange Revolution, when he was leader.
East vs. West
Yanukovych's refusal to sign the Eu bargain represents a U-turn in the nation's development to closer relations with the West.
An Eu assention might have opened borders to exchange and set the stage for modernization and inclusion, protesters say. They accuse Yanukovych of getting ready to take the nation into a Moscow-headed customs union.
Moscow has power that may have influenced Yanukovych's decision to retreat on the Eu talks. Russia supplies Ukraine with common gas, which is essential to keep individuals from solidifying in the nation's fierce winters.
Moscow can increase Ukraine's vigor bills and impose other exchange sanctions.
Yanukovych alluded to that danger Tuesday at a televised roundtable, saying he was "strongly against opposing relations with Europe energetic about relations with Russia and the other way around.
"We have to uncover an approach to rejoin. I suppose Europe will sleep calmly in warmth if Ukraine has exceptional relations with Russia, if there are no such conflicts like when we were shut off from gas."
The Eu is also pressuring Yanukovych to free his boss political opponent, Yulia Tymoshenko, who has languished in prison for two years in the wake of being convicted of abuse of force in 2011. The verdict was censured by the Eu and different critics as a sham.
The Orange Revolution that swept Yanukovych from office in 2004 also carried the pro-Western Tymoshenko to power.
A large number of the protesters have conveyed her portrait in Independence Square throughout the rallies.
On December 11, 2013
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