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Ukrainian police and protesters have clashed again outside Kiev’s city hall after security forces attempted to re-take the building occupied by hundreds of protesters.
Police yesterday used truncheons while protesters responded with sticks and demonstrators inside the building sprayed the police with extremely cold water from a fire hose, forcing security forces to retreat to police buses in the sub-zero temperatures.
Police ended up moving away from the building, having failed to wrest it from the hundreds of protesters inside.
Meanwhile the interior minister said Independence Square, where protesters remained through the night, will not be stormed again and urged for calm.
In an escalation of the protests that have been going on for weeks, security forces in the Ukraine did storm a protest on Tuesday night and in to yesterday morning, ripping down barricades and tents in the capital Kiev.
Protester numbers grew from hundreds into the thousands overnight.
On one of the main streets leading into the square, a large group of protesters in hard hats, appointed to protect the demonstrators, held back a separate unit of riot police.
Priests intoned prayers from a stage on the square and urged police not to use violence. Ruslana, a Ukrainian singer, called from a loud hailer: “Do not hurt us!”
Al Jazeera’s Tim Friend, reporting from Independence Square, said a standoff was in effect.
“The police have effectively reasserted their authority over the square,” our correspondent said.
“Protesters moved into a central position where they will remain singing patriotic songs. It is going to be a long long battle.”
Our correspondent said police had managed to restrict access to food and shelter, and were able to prevent more people joining the protests.
The capital has been gripped by more than three weeks of demonstrations against President Viktor Yanukovich’s decision to align himself with Russia instead of the European Union.
Protesters sang the Ukrainian national anthem and shouted “Shame!” and “We will stand!” as officers moved in.
The confrontation unfolded as EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland were in the city to try to talk to the government and the opposition and work out a solution.
Yanukovich’s refusal to sign an EU trade deal prompted the country’s largest street demonstrations since the 2004 Orange Revolution, which successfully overturned the results of a vote allegedly marred by massive corruption.
Hundreds of thousands of people marched this past weekend, the second in a row that such huge crowds have vented fury at a government they accuse of returning the country to Kremlin control.
Surveys revealed that the pact, which would have deepened the former Soviet republic’s economic ties with the 28-nation EU, was supported by nearly half of Ukrainians.
The agreement would make Ukraine more Western-oriented and would be a significant loss of face for Russia, which has either controlled or heavily influenced Ukraine for centuries.
Yanukovich had called on Tuesday for the release of demonstrators arrested in the massive protests and vowed that Ukraine was still interested in integrating with Europe, but stopped far short of opposition demands that his government resign.
Riot police have twice previously dispersed demonstrators with clubs and tear gas, beating some severely enough to send them to intensive care, but there were no immediate signs of such violence early yesterday.
Al Jazeera’s Robin Forestier-Walker, also reporting from Independence Square, said police appeared to have the “element of surprise” as the government remained in talks to defuse the political standoff.
“Nobody was expecting it,” our correspondent said of the police advance.
US Secretary of State John Kerry issued a strong statement, expressing the United States’ “disgust with the decision of Ukrainian authorities to meet the peaceful protest . . . with riot police, bulldozers, and batons, rather than with respect for democratic rights and human dignity.”
“This response is neither acceptable nor does it befit a democracy,” said Kerry, urging authorities to show “utmost restraint” and protect human life.
“As church bells ring tonight amidst the smoke in the streets of Kiev, the United States stands with the people of Ukraine.
“They deserve better.”
Tim Friend emphasised that the situation was about more than the Ukraine itself and was reigniting the discussion of reltionships between Russia and the west. — Al Jazeera
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter