Clashes Erupt in Kiev Over New Laws Curbing Street Protests

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Protesters clash with police on Jan. 19 during an opposition rally in the centre of Kiev in a show of defiance against strict new curbs on protests.

Image: SERGEI SUPINSKY/Staff/AFP/Getty Images

By Jim Roberts2014-01-19 16:54:48 UTC

What started out as largely another Sunday of peaceful protests in Kiev, Ukraine, turned violent later in the day, as protesters clashed with riot police. Police vehicles were burned, and opposition leader and presidential candidate Vitali Klitschko was doused with fire-extinguisher foam.

The protests came against the backdrop of sweeping new anti-protest laws approved Thursday by the Ukraine parliament, and signed into law Friday by Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Reuters estimated that 100,000 protesters "massed in defiance" of the new restrictions.

Under the new laws, protesters are banned from wearing helmets, pitching tents and using bullhorns. Violators face steep fines and prison sentences of up to 15 years. Some protesters on Sunday showed up with kitchen colanders or other headgear to mock the ban on helmets.

Several clashes on Sunday were reportedly the work of provocateurs not sanctioned by the opposition, according to English-language Ukrainian newspaper Kyiv Post . Some of the attacks on police came from "young men who are tired of waiting for action," the newspaper reported.

Amid the clashes, Klitschko called for calm, but that did little to ease the tensions, according to multiple reports. Later in the day, protesters — some equipped with sticks and rocks — marched toward parliament, the BBC reported.

At one point, Klitschko was sprayed with foam from a fire extinguisher. Images such as the one, below, suggest that it came from a protester.

Before the violence started, Ukrainian protesters got their first look at injured activist and journalist Tetyana Chornovol since she was badly beaten on Christmas Day. Chornovol spoke at a public rally in central Kiev, and to journalists at a press conference.

At the rally, she said, "This is war. On the one side there are people; on the other side, those who rob us. Yanukovych won't give up power easily. But we have a legal weapon, 2015 presidential elections."

Chornovol also accused Yanukovych of ordering the attack on her, which left her with multiple facial injuries, including a broken nose.

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Topics: kiev, Ukraine, Ukraine protests, US & World, World