Monday, August 31, 2015

Dozens injured in blast outside Kiev parliament

Clashes and at least one explosion left 100 law enforcement officers injured outside the Ukrainian parliament on Monday after a controversial vote to give greater powers to separatist regions in the east.

At least some of the officers were injured in the explosion of an object thrown from the crowd of protesters. It was not immediately clear what was thrown, but photographs and video showed it emitting a trail of smoke.

Earlier, demonstrators scuffled with police, according to AFP. Protesters fired at least one smoke grenade that sent up a cloud of black smoke outside the building. Tear gas was used by both sides.

In Monday’s acrimonious parliamentary session, a total of 265 deputies voted in favour in the first reading of a “decentralisation” bill, backed by President Petro Poroshenko’s political bloc and his government - 39 more than that required to go through.

But many coalition allies, including former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, spoke against the changes and it is open to question whether Poroshenko will be able to whip up the necessary 300 votes for it to get through a second and final reading later this year.

Approval of legislation for special status for parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which are largely controlled by Russian-backed separatists, is a major element of a peace agreement reached in Minsk, Belarus, in February.

Though a ceasefire is under pressure from sporadic shelling and shooting which government troops and rebels blame on each other, Western governments see the deal as holding out the best possible prospect for peace and are urging Ukraine to abide by the letter of the Minsk agreement.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)

france24.com
31/8/15
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1 comment :

  1. Second Ukrainian policeman dies following Kiev protest...

    A second Ukrainian policeman died from injuries after clashes in central Kiev that also saw more than 140 people hospitalised, the interior minister said Tuesday.

    "Another member of the National Guard, Dmitry Slastikov, died from injuries after yesterday's grenade explosion," Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Twitter.

    In the worst outburst of violence in Kiev since the new government took power in 2014, nationalist protesters clashed with police and National Guard troops outside Ukraine's parliament on Monday as lawmakers took up a measure to give greater powers to Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

    About 140 people were hospitalised, most of them law enforcement officers, the interior ministry said. One National Guard officer died on Monday, and a second died a day later, both as a result of injuries caused by the grenade, Avakov said.

    Most of the 100 violent protesters were members of Svoboda, a nationalist party that holds only a handful of seats in parliament. Wielding truncheons, pipes and sticks with nails, they faced off against police carrying shields and truncheons.

    About 30 protesters were detained, of whom 18 remained in custody on Tuesday, including the man suspected of throwing the grenade. Avakov said he was a Svoboda member who fought in the east in one of the volunteer battalions, which are loosely controlled by the government.

    President Petro Poroshenko, on a hospital visit to see the injured officers, pledged to find the organizers of the clashes who were handing out sticks and weapons, like grenades.

    The decentralization of power was a condition demanded by Russia for a truce signed in Belarus in February aimed at ending the fighting between Ukrainian government troops and Russia-backed separatists that has left more than 6,800 people dead since April 2014..................france24.com
    1/9/15

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