Anti-government protests spread to western Ukraine

PanARMENIAN.Net - Anti-government unrest in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv has spread to western Ukraine, where government buildings in two major cities were seized by protesters Thursday, Jan 23, according to RIA Novosti.

Activists smashed a door and broke into the city hall of the western Ukrainian city of Rivne at about 10:00 GMT, demanding the resignation of Governor Vasyl Bertash. The protesters, who negotiated with Bertash’s deputies, also demanded the withdrawal of riot police from Kyiv, where dozens have been injured and at least two protesters killed in clashes with law-enforcement officers in the past few days.

Earlier in the day, residents of another western Ukrainian city, Lviv, seized the city administration building and urged governor Oleh Salo to resign.

In the central Ukrainian city of Poltava, a group of “radically-minded young people” attempted to seize the city administration late Wednesday, but the city’s police chief managed to defuse the situation, Poltavshchina website reported.

According to local opposition activist and politician Oleh Pustovhar, the head of the city’s police department removed his hat and suggested singing the national anthem to honor those killed in Kyiv.

“Tensions eased a bit after that,” Pustovhar said. “The protesters went around the corner and threw a couple of flares, and the rally was over.”

Meanwhile, an anti-protest movement has formed in the traditionally pro-Russian city of Simferopol in the Crimea, in Ukraine’s south.