KIEV, Ukraine - Protesters shouted “Glory to Ukraine” as burning tents lit up the night sky after thousands of riot police moved against the sprawling protest camp in the center of Kiev on Tuesday.
The police, armed with stun grenades and water cannons, attacked the camp after at least 18 people - including seven officers - died and hundreds were injured in street clashes. The violence was the deadliest in nearly three months of anti-government protests that have paralyzed Ukraine’s capital in a struggle over the nation’s identity, and the worst in the country’s post-Soviet history.
Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko urged the 20,000 protesters to defend the camp on Independence Square.
“We will not go anywhere from here,” Klitschko told the crowd, speaking from a stage in the square as fires burned around him. “This is an island of freedom, and we will defend it,” he said.
Many heeded his call.
“This looks like a war against one’s own people,” said Dmytro Shulko, 35, who was heading toward the camp armed with a firebomb. “But we will defend ourselves.”
As police dismantled some of the barricades on the perimeter of the square and tried to push away the protesters, they fought back with rocks, bats and firebombs. Many of the protesters were bleeding.
Speaking over loudspeakers, police urged women and children to leave the square because an “anti-terrorist” operation was underway.
Shortly before midnight, Klitschko headed to President Viktor Yanukovych’s office to try to resolve the crisis. He returned to the square early this morning without reaching an agreement to end the violence. Klitschko told reporters that he had asked the president to stop the police action to clear the square and prevent further deaths, but Yanukovych’s only proposal was that the demonstrators have to go home and stop the protests.
“I am very unhappy because there was no discussion,” Klitschko said. “They don’t want to listen.”
Still, Klitschko urged the protesters and police to stop the escalation of violence. He said opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk was trying to arrange for more negotiations with Yanukovych later today.
Earlier in the day, protesters attacked police lines and set fires outside the parliament, accusing Yanukovych of once again ignoring their demands and dragging his feet on a constitutional change to limit presidential powers.
Tensions had soared after Russia said Monday that it was ready to resume providing the loans that Yanukovych’s government needs to keep Ukraine’s ailing economy afloat. This raised fears among the opposition that Yanukovych had made a deal with Moscow to stand firm against the protesters and would choose a Russian-leaning loyalist to be his new prime minister.
The protests began in late November after Yanukovych turned away from a long-anticipated deal with the European Union in exchange for a $15 billion bailout from Russia. The political maneuvering continued, however, with both Moscow and the West eager to gain influence over this former Soviet republic.
Until Monday, the government and the opposition had appeared to be making some progress toward resolving the political crisis peacefully. In exchange for the release of scores of jailed activists, protesters on Sunday vacated a government building that they had occupied since Dec. 1.
“We see that this regime again has begun shooting people. They want to sink Ukraine in blood. We will not give in to a single provocation,” Yatsenyuk told the protesters. “We will not take one step back from this square. We have nowhere to retreat to. Ukraine is behind us, Ukraine’s future is behind us.”
Tuesday’s clashes were the first to lead to deaths since Jan. 22, when two protesters were hit with live ammunition and a third fell.
Early this morning, government agencies said 18 people died in the violence, including seven policemen who died from gunshot wounds. Eleven civilians also died, including three who were shot. A police spokesman said 159 police were wounded, including 39 who were shot.
The coordinator for the opposition’s medical response team, Oleh Musiy, said more than 400 protesters were injured. He also said about 20 had died, but that could not independently be confirmed.
Justice Minister Olena Lukash, a close Yanukovych aide, accused the opposition of violating earlier agreements with the government and blamed protest leaders for the violence.
In Washington, Vice President Joe Biden expressed his “grave concern” in telephone call to Yanukovych, urging him to pull back government forces and exercise maximum restraint. The White House said Biden also called on Ukraine’s government to address the protesters’ “legitimate grievances” and put forward proposals for political change.
U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Payatt threatened both sides with sanctions. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier echoed that threat, saying Ukrainian security forces have a “particular responsibility” to de-escalate the situation, adding that the EU might resort to unspecified sanctions against individuals.
Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry blamed the West for the escalation of the violence and called on the opposition to work with the government to find a way out of the crisis.
“What is happening is a direct result of the conniving politics of Western politicians and European bodies,” the ministry said in a statement.
Information for this article was contributed by Yuras Karmanau, Lynn Berry and Laura Mills of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 02/19/2014