Riot Police Brutally Disperse Protesters in Kiev
Riot police, swinging truncheons and spraying bursts of tear gas, early Saturday, forcibly broke up a crowd of several hundred demonstrators who had been protesting in support of far-reaching political and free-trade accords between Ukraine and the European Union that President Viktor F. Yanukovich refused to sign on Friday.
A crowd of about 10,000 people had gathered in Independence Square in central Kiev on Friday evening as the European Union summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, where Mr. Yanukovich had originally planned to sign the agreements, was drawing to a close.
Several hundred protesters chanting for Mr. Yanukovich’s resignation were still gathered there when the police, wearing helmets and carrying body shields, moved in about 4:30 a.m., according to local news accounts and videos posted online by witnesses. At least several dozen people were beaten, Andriy Shevchenko, a member of Parliament told the Ukrainska Pravda news site.
