Dozens die in Ukraine as Maidan protesters refuse to yield to brutal force

At least 51 people, including 12 police, have lost their lives in central Kiev since fighting flared this week between Ukraine Government Forces and protesters.

Fresh violence set the central “Independence” Square on fire on Thursday, as the Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovich met European ministers demanding he compromise with political opponents.

The “Maidan Nezalezhnosti Square” – which gives the protest movement its name, has become the heart and headquarters of the movement since protesters occupied the area almost three months ago when, under pressure from Russia, President Yanukovich refused to sign a trade agreement with the European Union.

Vatican Radio’s Linda Bordoni spoke to Bogdan Voron who is a reporter in Kiev and the creator of one of the Maidan art projects.

He describes the flaring of violence this week and the feeling of the people in the barricades as police broke through the first line of protesters organized in defense units with water cannons and live ammunition and – he says – attacked unarmed peaceful protesters in the Square…

Listen to the interview…

To break through the barricades Voron says the police used armoured cars which were mostly burnt by the protesters. The police – he said – threw grenades and they fired live ammunition wounding thousands. He says the number of killed people is destined to increase as they have lost track of many people.

Police he said also threw molotof cocktails burning many tents. He said the Chapel on the Square was also burnt down with its icons and a nine-storey building – the house of trade unions – also burnt down. That he says is where the medical centre and the press centre were housed.

He says new medical centres have appeared - one of them a historic Monastery. Voron says this reminds people of the time when the Mongols sacked Kiev and burnt it to the ground. He says the people are now saying that Kiev underwent such devastation only twice in its history: under the Mongols, and now.

Voron says the protesters continue to stand at the Maidan and he says crowds of supporters are arriving from all over Ukraine and bringing fresh forces to support the Maidan. He says also the Western city of Lviv have occupied government buildings there. Voron stresses that in the eyes of the protesters it is not a civil war but a war against criminals…