The European Union is urging Ukraine to scrap new laws that are viewed as curtailing fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and the holding of peaceful protests after a night of vicious streets battles.
The 28-nation bloc’s foreign ministers have said the laws rammed through Ukraine’s parliament last week under “doubtful procedural circumstances” must be scrapped.
Ukraine has been shaken since November by massive public protests after Russia lured the country’s leaders with financial incentives to ditch closer cooperation with the EU.
The laws are widely seen as an attempt to silence the protests but new rallies over the weekend drew tens of thousands of people and turned violent.
Anti-government protesters and police clashed anew yesterday in the capital Kiev.
Hundreds of protesters, many wearing balaclavas, hurled rocks and stun grenades and police responded with tear gas.
The EU statement calls on all parties to “exercise restraint”, urging authorities “to fully respect and protect the peaceful demonstrators’ right to assembly and speech”.
Sunday’s violence was a sharp escalation of Ukraine’s two-month political crisis, which has brought round-the-clock protest gatherings, but had been largely peaceful.
Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko tried to persuade demonstrators to stop their unrest, but failed and was sprayed by a fire extinguisher in the process.
Mr Klitschko later travelled to President Viktor Yanukovych’s residence and said he had agreed to negotiate.
“There are only two ways for events to develop. The first one is not to negotiate,” Mr Klitschko was quoted as saying. “A scenario of force can be unpredictable and I don’t rule out the possibility of a civil war. And here we are using all possibilities in order to prevent bloodshed.”
Mr Yanukovych said later on his website that he had tasked a working group to meet opposition representatives to work out a solution to the crisis.