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Belarusians taking part in clashes with police in Kyiv

About a dozen Belarusians took part in clashes with police who tried to oust pro-EU protesters from Independence Square at the heart of Kyiv on the night between December 10 and 11.

Scuffles erupted after police moved in on a large protest encampment in the square. Belarusian woman Natallya Harachka said that she had stayed near the makeshift stage at the center of the square throughout the night, displaying Belarus' historically national white-red-white flag. The woman told BelaPAN that she was not affiliated with any political organization.

The police failed to seize control of the square as the protesters formed human walls to repel the police and their number swelled toward the morning.

Several Belarusians were staying in Kyiv's city hall occupied by pro-EU protesters as it was stormed by riot police on Wednesday morning, Maryya Kvitsinskaya, an activist of an opposition youth group called Malady Front, told BelaPAN.

"Five or six Malady Front members are now in the building. When I phoned them, they told me that they were repelling police, pouring water from the first floor down on members of the Berkut police force," she said.

Ms. Kvitsinskaya added that she was observing no people holding white-red-white flags in Independence Square on Wednesday morning.

Yury Bakur, a Brest resident who returned to Belarus on December 11 after taking part in the protests, said that Belarusian opposition activist Raman Pratasevich had been hurt lightly during a clash with riot police in Kyiv earlier this week.