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Ukraine Protesters Stage First Mass Rally of 2014


Anti-government protesters attend a rally at Independence Square in Kyiv, Jan. 12, 2014.
Anti-government protesters attend a rally at Independence Square in Kyiv, Jan. 12, 2014.
At least 50,000 opponents of Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych rallied in a central Kyiv square on Sunday, reviving the protest movement after a Christmas and New Year lull.

The mass rally in Independence Square was a continuation of street protests that erupted in November following Yanukovych's decision to abandon a free trade agreement with Europe in favor of closer cooperation with Russia.

Sunday's demonstration came a day after baton-wielding riot police tried to disperse protesters outside a Kyiv courthouse, sparking clashes in which at least ten people were injured.

“What are the next steps? We will fight... protest peacefully,” Vitaly Klitschko, an opposition leader and former heavyweight boxing champion, told the crowd which waved the blue-and-yellow national flags of Ukraine.

“Today the authorities use the militia as a weapon, silencing the people's mouths with batons,” he said, and repeated the opposition's call for early presidential elections.

Unless the vote is brought forward, a presidential race is not due until 2015.

Another opposition leader, Arseny Yatsenyuk, called on the West to impose sanctions against senior state officials, including Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko, who, he said, had violated Ukraine's constitution by authorizing the use of force against the protesters.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is due to hold a hearing on Ukraine on Jan. 15, according to the committee's website.

In November, Yanukovych's government walked away at the last minute from a deal tying Ukraine closer to the European Union and opted for closer ties with Kyiv's Soviet-era overlord Moscow.

The decision prompted street demonstrations opposing the decision and the movement quickly developed into an all-out protest against Yanukovych and his government.

The protest rallies attracted as many as 800,000 people at their height but the movement quietened over New Year and the Ukrainian Orthodox Christmas, which was celebrated on January 7.
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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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