Ukrainians Mass in Kiev, Build Up Protest Barricades

Local Editor

Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters massed on the streets of Kiev late Wednesday after a day of deadly clashes with the authorities, hastily reinforcing the barricades protecting their protests camp.

In the space of a few hours, the protesters had increased by several meters the height of their barricades protecting the main protest camp on Independence Square with sandbags filled with snow.

Activists were busily at work on Kiev's main thoroughfare Khreshchatyk Avenue scooping up snow, putting it into the bags and hauling them to the barricades.
Access to the protest camp was also more restricted with narrower entrances guarded by activists, prompting long queues at some points.

Ukrainian opposition leaders had earlier called on supporters to descend on Independence Square en masse to stave off the threat of the protest camp being dispersed by the security forces overnight.
Meanwhile, clashes with security forces continued at the epicenter of the violence on Grushevsky Street in Kiev, with protesters hurling Molotov cocktails and police responding with stun grenades.

Protesters were burning tires in a blazing barricade to protect them from the security forces. Activists could be seen continually bringing new tires keep the fire alive which sent black smoke billowing into the Kiev sky.
Ukrainian opposition leaders have threatened to "go on the offensive", if the president does not respond to the demands in the wake of Wednesday's talks not yielding any results.
"Tomorrow if the president does not respond ... then we will go on the offensive," said Vitaly Klitschko, one of the leaders, addressing the thousands of protesters on Independence Square, Maidan.

Following the three-hour long meeting with the President Victor Yanukovich, opposition leaders said there had been no positive response from the president to their demands, which include lifting the anti-riot laws, the government stepping down and an early ballot.
Yanukovich offered to "continue talks regarding the laws tomorrow," the opposition Fatherland party leader Arseny Yatsenuk said.

However, the opposition is still urging protesters not to leave the square, to defend it and also to prepare for a police offensive against them.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team