Over 100,000 defy protest ban in Ukraine. Demonstrators take to the streets again, chase police away and chant "revolution" as fury over U-turn on Europe grows.

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More than 100,000 demonstrators have chased away police to rally in the centre of Ukraine's capital, defying a government ban on protests in Independence Square, in the biggest show of anger over the president's refusal to sign an agreement with the European Union.
Chants of "revolution'' resounded across a sea of EU and Ukrainian flags on the square, where the government had prohibited rallies starting on Sunday.


A group of protesters used a tractor to try to break through police lines near the office of President Viktor Yanukovich, eyewitnesses said.
The approach to the entrance to the presidential administration building was blocked by a line of buses as well as several metal barriers.
Opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko, addressing the protesters, called on Yanukovich and his government to resign, saying they had "stolen" Ukraine's dream of European integration.

'They stole the dream'
"The government and the president should resign," said the heavyweight boxing champion turned opposition politician.
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"They stole the dream. If this government does not want to fulfill the will of the people, then there will be no such government, there will be no such president. There will be a new government and a new president," he said to cheering crowds.


The opposition rally, by far the biggest seen in the Ukrainian capital since the Orange Revolution nine years ago,  came a day after a police crackdown on protesters which inflamed demonstrators further after Yanukovich's U-turn on Europe.
In a bid to defuse tensions ahead of the rally, Yanukovich issued a statement saying he would do everything in his power to speed up Ukraine's moves toward the European Union.
In a sea of blue and gold, the colours of both the EU and Ukrainian flags, protesters flooded the streets of central Kiev, angered by Yanukovich's decision last month to forego signing a landmark EU deal in favour of closer ties with Kiev's former Soviet master, Russia.
"We are furious,'' said Mykola Sapronov, a 62-year-old retired businessman. "The leaders must resign. We want Europe and freedom.''

'We will respond'
The crowds then moved on to Independence Square, the site of the pro-EU rally that police violently broke up on Saturday.
The interior minister warned that police would respond to any disorder and said Ukraine had no place among the ranks of countries like Libya or Tunisia, where popular uprisings overthrew old guard leadership.
"If there are any calls to disorder, we will respond," Interfax reported Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko as saying.
But riot police, who had sealed off part of Independence Square following Saturday's crackdown, withdrew as the marchers approached the square.
Sunday's rally also marked the anniversary of a 1991 referendum that ushered in Ukraine's independence from the then-crumbling Soviet Union.
 aljazeera.com
1/12/13
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• Τιμωρία όσων ευθύνονται για τη βία, υπόσχεται ο Γιανούκοβιτς

• Η ΕΕ καταδικάζει την υπερβολική χρήση βίας στο Κίεβο...

• Με αρχηγείο εθνικής αντίστασης απαντά η αντιπολίτευση. -ΤΕΤΑΜΕΝΗ Η ΚΑΤΑΣΤΑΣΗ ΣΤΗΝ ΟΥΚΡΑΝΙΑ

• Ουκρανία: Οι πραγματικοί λόγοι που δεν υπογράφτηκε η σύνδεση με την Ε.Ε.

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• Pro-EU protesters in Ukraine storm Kiev city hall 

Several hundred thousand people took to the streets of Ukraine’s capital Kiev amid heightening tensions on Sunday to protest against President Viktor Yanukovich’s decision to forego signing a landmark deal with the European Union. 

Clashes broke out in the Ukrainian capital on Sunday as protesters stormed the Kiev mayor’s office in the biggest display of anger over the president's refusal to sign an agreement with the European Union.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters defied a government ban on public rallies to mass on Kiev’s Independence Square on Sunday, demanding that President Viktor Yanukovich resign.

Police initially allowed the demonstration to rally peacefully, but when a few thousand protesters tried to storm the nearby presidential administration building, riot police used tear gas and truncheons to drive them back. Dozens of people with what appeared to be head injuries were taken away by ambulance.

The interior ministry said the confrontation was initiated by about 200 people wearing masks tried to break through police lines with garbage truck and also used gas against police.
Prominent opposition leaders issued calls for calm as protesters broke windows of the city council offices to get into the building.
Opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko, a world boxing champion and a likely candidate in the 2015 presidential race, denounced the attempt to storm the president's office as an effort to provoke the government into declaring a state of emergency. But he also called for everyone to stay on the square in a peaceful protest.
The protest comes amid heightened tensions in the country after police used force to break up a pro-EU demonstration at the same square in the early hours of Saturday morning.
While Yanukovich said that he was “deeply outraged” by the violence, his interior minister, Vitaly Zakharchenko, warned that police would respond if there were any mass disturbances during Sunday’s demonstration.

Unprecedented crackdown
Saturday’s violence, in which police used stun grenades and batons against mostly young and peaceful protesters, was unprecedented in Kiev and attracted sharp criticism domestically and abroad.

“I want my children to live in a country where they don’t beat young people,” said Andrey, 33, the manager of a large firm, who declined to give his surname for fear of reprisals against him.
“I am glad we woke up after a ten year nap,” he said referring to the 2004-5 Orange Revolution, co-led by now jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, which thwarted Yanukovich’s first run at the presidency.
In an effort to defuse tensions ahead of Sunday’s demonstration, Yanukovich issued a statement saying he would do everything in his power to accelerate the process of moving Ukraine closer to the European Union. He also repeated the need to balance Ukraine’s European integration with its own national interests.
“Ukraine has made its own geopolitical choice. We are a European people and our path has been historically determined. But at the same time, according to my deep conviction, our government should integrate into an association of European nations as an equal partner to be respected,” Yanukovich said.
Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said in a televised interview late on Saturday that Yanukovich would travel to Moscow to work on a ‘roadmap’ for new economic cooperation after a planned trip to China on Dec 3-6, though he gave no dates.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, REUTERS)
france24.com