Pro-Russians protesters storm Donetsk prosecutor's office in eastern Ukraine
- 10 years ago
The security situation in eastern Ukraine continues to deteriorate.
The latest domino to fall was in the separatist-held city of Donetsk .. where a pro-Russian group of around 200 stormed the regional prosecutor’s office.
A hail of rocks rained down on police guarding the entrance after they had fired stun grenades in a effort to disperse the crowd.
The building had come under attack because the protesters said it was issuing arrest warrants, on orders from the capital Kyiv, charging people with separatism.
The incident illustrates the inability of the Kyiv authorities in the region to prevent forces favorable to a rapprochement with Moscow from seizing government buildings.
One of the pro-Russians explained the sequence of events: “The police started throwing stun grenades at us. Two separatists had to be taken to hospital and one is in intensive care. We didn’t back off, we went in there.”
Inside symbols of the Kyiv government were smashed and Ukrainian flags burned.
Journalists saw police officers, disarmed and beaten, forced to run a gauntlet of screaming men and women who slapped and spat at them.
The violence, in a city already largely under the control of separatists, underscored the shifting security situation and suspicions in the region.
The latest domino to fall was in the separatist-held city of Donetsk .. where a pro-Russian group of around 200 stormed the regional prosecutor’s office.
A hail of rocks rained down on police guarding the entrance after they had fired stun grenades in a effort to disperse the crowd.
The building had come under attack because the protesters said it was issuing arrest warrants, on orders from the capital Kyiv, charging people with separatism.
The incident illustrates the inability of the Kyiv authorities in the region to prevent forces favorable to a rapprochement with Moscow from seizing government buildings.
One of the pro-Russians explained the sequence of events: “The police started throwing stun grenades at us. Two separatists had to be taken to hospital and one is in intensive care. We didn’t back off, we went in there.”
Inside symbols of the Kyiv government were smashed and Ukrainian flags burned.
Journalists saw police officers, disarmed and beaten, forced to run a gauntlet of screaming men and women who slapped and spat at them.
The violence, in a city already largely under the control of separatists, underscored the shifting security situation and suspicions in the region.