The demonstrators, who demand access to the administration’s conference room in order to make a TV statement, are still clashing with the National Guard, TASS reports.
The demonstrators, who demand access to the administration’s conference room in order to make a TV statement, are still clashing with the National Guard, TASS reports.
Earlier, protesters managed to break through the first cordon of security forces, but were prevented from entering the building.
The rioters’ demands include the introduction of martial law in Ukraine over the fighting with the rebels in the southeast of the country. They also insisted on the resignation of the heads of all Ukrainian security agencies – from defense minister to prosecutor general – due to their incompetence.
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry has, however, denied there were any attempts to storm the president’s HQ.
“There was no storming. There’s also nobody being detained and no one was injured during the action,” a ministry spokesman said.
Tuesday’s protest in Kiev was called by the All-Ukrainian Battalion Brotherhood, a fresh group that includes formers volunteer fighters, who went to eastern Ukraine, as well as Maidan activists.
The Ukrainian capital has already seen several protests by volunteer troops, who returned from Ukraine’s war-torn Donetsk and Lugansk regions, after the government disbanded the Aidar volunteer battalion last week. On Sunday and Monday, Aidar fighters staged a protest and burnt tires outside the Defense Ministry.
READ MORE: Tires on fire: Nationalist battalion fighters protest ‘disbanding’ in Kiev
In September, Amnesty International accused Aidar of “widespread abuses, including abductions, unlawful detention, ill-treatment, theft, extortion, and possible executions” during the warfare in the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions.
The Ukraine conflict began last April when Kiev sent regular forces and volunteer battalions to the southeastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, after they refused to recognize the country’s new, coup-imposed authorities.
The death toll in the Ukraine conflict has exceeded 5,000 people. Over 10,000 have been injured, according to UN estimates.