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The Ukrainian government clashed with far-right protesters on Monday, after Parliament voted on a controversial law which will allow special status to eastern rebel-held towns and cities in the country's upcoming elections.
The law, which was a constitutional amendment, is part of the agreement reached in Minsk, Belarus, in February this year between representatives of the Ukrainian government and rebel forces.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov wrote on Facebook that “one person was killed, 125 were injured, 12 people are being operated on and one soldier is in a deep coma. Doctors have refused to give any forecasts on the condition of another five people.” The person killed was a member of Ukraine’s National Guard.
Around 3,000 protesters gathered on Kiev's Constitution Square, which faces the Parliament, mostly sympathizers of the alleged neo-nazi Svoboda party, waving the party's blue and yellow flags. Others carried black and red flags, characteristic of the radical Right Sector party.
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Rada violence pic.twitter.com/P8nXRKxrvo
— Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll)
agosto 31, 2015
#UKRAINIAN #NATIONALISTS BLOCKED THE GOVERNMENTAL DISTRICT OF #KYIV http://t.co/sWK2FOklHr #Ukraine #RightSector pic.twitter.com/jUEzhDmaHI
— Ukrainian Crusade (@UANationalists)
agosto 31, 2015
The grenade explosion was caught on tape, showing more than a dozen riot troops limping after the explosion, and at least one plainclothes officer falling to the ground and being dragged away.
Authorities say the man suspected of throwing the hand grenade was arrested, and around 30 other protesters were arrested amid the clashes.
Both parties were decisive in the ousting of President Victor Yanukovych in February 2014. But they have now turned against Petro Poroshenko's government after it opted for a peaceful resolution amid an internal war with rebel forces in the East.
Members of the Svoboda leadership rejected the violence, claiming that their activities are characterized by peaceful action.
After the lawmakers approved the new bill, President Poroshenko addressed the nation in a televised statement in which he claimed the bill would not give autonomy to the rebels but just wider powers, which was a “necessary step” towards peace.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, addressed the country in a special live broadcast, where he denounced the violence, saying the right-wing protesters were “worse” than the separatist rebels because they were destroying the country from within “under the guise of patriotism.”
Many of the Ukrainian right-wing, which led the Maidan Square protests in 2013 and 2014, claim the new law would allow the rebels to declare independence from Ukraine.
