Protesters clash with police in center of Ukraine's capital after anti-protest laws passed

1/19/2014

Pro-European Union activists stand in front of a barricade of their tent camp to protect it in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014. About seventy people who oppose demonstrators in Kiev came to the protester's tent camp to destroy it. Ukraine’s president on Friday ignored sharp Western criticism and approved controversial anti-protest legislation aimed at quashing massive anti-government demonstrations which have rocked Kiev for nearly two months. A poster at left criticizes Ukrainian judicial system. (AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

KIEV, Ukraine — Hundreds of protesters are clashing with riot police in the center of the Ukrainian capital, after the passage of harsh anti-protest legislation.

A group of radical activists began attacking riot police with sticks, trying to push their way toward the Ukrainian parliament building, which has been cordoned off by rows of police and buses.

Stun grenades were used and smoke was seen above the crowd. Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko tried to stop the protesters from attacking police.

The clashes occurred Sunday shortly after tens of thousands rallied on Kiev’s main square, as part of anti-government protests that have rocked Ukraine for two months.