Riot police deployed in Kyiv, Yanukovych pledges compromise

[pampango]

3. Ukraine Raids Party’s Office and Encircles Protesters

Even as Ukraine’s besieged president on Monday said he would be open to talks with protest leaders, the situation on Kiev’s streets took on an ominous tone, with security forces raiding an opposition party’s headquarters and beginning to push on the edges of a continuing mass demonstration.

After seeming to lose control of Kiev on Sunday night after a huge rally of hundreds of thousands of people in Independence Square, police forces redeployed on Monday and began efforts to push protesters out of streets near main government buildings. Battalions of police officers moved in and took up positions just outside the square’s perimeter.

“We saw on the Internet today some statement about the round table,” Mr. Yatsenyuk said. “We would like to start by saying that it is very difficult to fit a round table into a square сell.”

He added: “We understood that this is the way Yanukovich invites us to the round table — a few thousands of Interior forces have arrived already, and I received a summon for interrogation from the General Prosecution Office.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/10/world/europe/ukraine-unrest.html?hpw&rref=world&_r=0