KIEV: The Ukrainian police on Wednesday shot dead three anti-government protesters in the center of the capital Kiev during a rally organized in defiance of a recently adopted anti-protest law in the Eastern European country, medical officials said.
On Tuesday, an anti-protest law came into effect in the former Soviet Republic which bans any unauthorized installation of tents, stages or amplifiers in public places, triggering a strong condemnation from the opposition and the western counties.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said that the authorities have no choice but to resort to force if the anti-government protests continue in the country.
On Wednesday, new clashes broke out once the police arrested some demonstrators and began removing barricades set up by the protesters on Kiev’s central Grushevsky Street.
Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said that police did not possess firearms and the interior ministry denied that police used guns during the crisis.
The police forces and demonstrators joined by hundreds of thousands of protesters have been facing off for two days in downtown Kiev.
The violent protests were triggered in Kiev after the government refrained from signing an Association Agreement with the European Union at the third Eastern Partnership Summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, on November 29 last year in favor of closer ties with Russia.
Later, Ukraine and Russia reached a strategic economic and trade deal last December, which provides Ukraine with significant discounts on imported Russian gas and billions of dollars in credit.
