Ukraine’s Riot police storm opposition party offices as tensions rise

PanARMENIAN.Net - Heavily armed riot troops broke into the offices of a top Ukrainian opposition party office in Kiev as anti-government protests crippled the capital for yet another day, Belfast Telegraph said.

Elsewhere police dismantled or blocked off several small protest tent camps near key national government buildings in the city.

Tensions also rose as a double cordon of riot police deployed in the street near Kiev's city administration building, which demonstrators had occupied and turned into a makeshift command post and dormitory.

The moves came a day after hundreds of thousands of demonstrators crammed into Kiev, the biggest in three weeks of protests that started when Ukraine's president backed away from signing a long -awaited pact to deepen ties with the 28-nation European Union.

Protesters are angered not only by the thwarting of their desire to become closer to the West, but by police violence against the demonstrators.

Ostap Semerak, a member of the Fatherland Parry, said troops broke into the party's offices earlier tonight, some climbing in through its windows. The troops left after confiscating computer equipment, he said.

The party is headed by imprisoned former prime Yulia Tymoshenko, a longstanding foe of President Viktor Yanukovych, and is the largest opposition grouping in the parliament. Critics say Tymoshenko's conviction on abuse of office charges was a case of political revenge.

In a surprise move, Yanukovych announced he would sit down with three former Ukrainian presidents to discuss a way out of the crisis that has paralysed the country. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, was also heading to the Ukraine to help defuse the tensions.

Ukraine's political standoff has been aggravated by its rapidly deteriorating finances. The economy has been in recession for more than a year, and the government is in desperate need of foreign funding to avoid a default. As talks stalled with the International Monetary Fund, Yanukovych has sought a bailout loan from Russia.

This former Soviet republic of 46 million people is sharply divided over the prospects of drawing closer to its powerful neighbour, Russia. Yanukovych's stronghold, is dominated by Russian speakers who want closer ties to Russia, in contrast to Kiev's students and residents in the west who see better EU ties as the way forward.