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 Several columns of police left positions around the protesters'
main camp in Independence Square and moved away from government
buildings occupied by demonstrators enraged at Yanukovich's decision
to pull the plug on an EU trade deal and move Ukraine further into
Russia's orbit.
Overnight they had cleared streets near the protest camp and later
surrounded the City Hall, where demonstrators who have set up a
makeshift hospital in the occupied building sprayed them with water
hoses to prevent it from being stormed.
Those moves by hundreds of black-clad police with visors and helmets
were the boldest steps the authorities had ordered so far against
demonstrators, although it was not clear whether they were prepared
to use full force.
At the main protest camp on Independence Square, pop stars,
politicians and priests pleaded with police not to shed blood.
Opposition politicians called for mass demonstrations to protect the
square and predicted that Yanukovich would soon be toppled.
The interior minister called for calm and said the square would not
be stormed.
Police had been bussed in to the city center to shouts of "Get out
criminal" — a reference to Yanukovich, who suspended plans to sign a
trade pact with the European Union last month and instead embraced
closer ties with Russia.
The police moves began in darkness near Independence Square, where
thousands of protesters have maintained a vigil in bitter winter
cold.
Riot police flooded roads to square and moved slowly into the main
camp, tearing down some of the barricades. Dozens of demonstrators
and police were hurt in scuffles but several officers said they had
orders not to use force.
But the action appeared to stall as day broke, with temperatures in
the snowbound capital stuck at minus 8 degrees Celsius (17
Fahrenheit). Some riot police left to cheers from lines of
protesters holding them back.
Many protesters said they had feared they would be stormed. Priests
intoned prayers from a stage on the square and urged police not to
use violence. Ruslana, a Ukrainian pop star, called from a loud
hailer: "Do not hurt us!"
Some protesters held mobile phones in the air like candles and sang
the national anthem, while church bells rang out from a cathedral
about 2 km (about 1 mile) away, as in times of danger centuries ago.
"It is the stupidest thing that he could have done," said Vitaly
Klitschko, a world heavyweight boxing champion turned opposition
politician. "There are laws of physics: the more pressure, the more
resistance. I am sure there will be a huge number of Ukrainians here
in a few hours."
Another opposition leader, former economy minister Arseny Yatsenyuk
said: "He (Yanukovich) is spitting in the faces of the United
States, 28 countries of Europe, 46 million Ukrainians. We will not
forgive him this. Tomorrow there will be a million people here and
his regime will fall."
Protesters hailed the police withdrawal on Wednesday.
"I sense a victory. We will hope that our president will understand
this and do the right thing and resign," said Andriy Shchyur, a
25-year-old from the Western city of Lviv.
"We are seeing that truth does exist, that it is worth fighting for.
It is a small victory, but these small victories will lead to big
victories," said protester Serhiy Chorny.
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U-TURN ON EUROPE
The crisis has added to the financial hardship of a country on the
brink of bankruptcy. The cost of insuring Ukraine's debt against
default rose another 30 basis points on Wednesday, close to a 4-year
high set during Tuesday's trading session. It now costs $1.127
million a year to insure $10 million in Ukrainian debt for a
five-year term, reflecting high risk of default.
European leaders say the trade pact with Ukraine would have brought
investment. But the country's Soviet-era industry relies on Russian
natural gas, giving Moscow enormous leverage.
Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on Wednesday he had told European
leaders they would need to provide Kiev with 20 billion euros in aid
for Ukraine to sign the stalled pact with Brussels. He promised that
a meeting with Russian officials set for Dec 17 would not include
talks on joining a Moscow-dominated customs union, a main fear of
the opposition.
Western countries spoke out strongly against use of force.
"The United States expresses its disgust with the decision of
Ukrainian authorities to meet the peaceful protest in Kiev's Maidan
Square with riot police, bulldozers, and batons, rather than with
respect for democratic rights and human dignity," U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry said in a statement. "This response is neither
acceptable nor does it befit a democracy."
With EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and U.S. assistant
secretary of state Victoria Nuland in Kiev, protest speakers urged
the West to support them in a struggle which has developed into a
campaign to force Yanukovich's resignation.
"Europe, do you hear us? We are standing here for our rights. We
want to be independent. We don't want to go to Russia," said Lesya
Orobets, a member of parliament.
Nuland visited protesters on the square on Wednesday.
There were signs that the authorities were reluctant to order
bloodshed on the square. Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko
issued a statement calling for calm.
"I want everyone to calm down. There will be no storming of the
square. No one will violate your rights to protest peacefully, but
do not ignore the rights ... of other citizens."
The EU's Ashton, expecting to meet Yanukovich on Wednesday, said in
a statement: "I observe with sadness that police use force to remove
peaceful people from the center of Kiev. The authorities did not
need to act under cover of night to engage with society by using
police."
(Writing by Richard Balmforth, Elizabeth Piper and Peter Graff)
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