Protests spread in eastern Ukrainian cities. [View all]

[another_liberal]

The interim president of Ukraine says he wants a nation-wide referendum on federalizing the country and allowing more independence for Russian-speaking, eastern regions. Mr. Turchinov also replaced Ukraine's hard line commander of anti-terrorism forces (who he gave the job to just a week ago), apparently signaling a softer, less confrontational approach to the unrest. But is it already too late? Has the ship of independence for eastern Ukraine sailed?

Protest expands in eastern Ukraine as Kiev threatens military op.

The anti-Kiev protests are expanding in Ukraine's Donetsk Region, where activists are besieging police HQ in the city of Gorlovka. The central authorities are threatening to use military force to quash the uprising. Gorlovka is an eastern Ukrainian city with a population of more than 250,000 inhabitants. The activists apparently spent the night in City Hall and proceeded to take over the police HQ on Monday morning

Troops holding the HQ barricaded in as a crowd of several hundred people gathered outside, according to footage from the scene. At one point they opened fire and used stun grenades, when the protesters tried to raise a Russian flag on the entrance to the building. The person trying to set the flag atop the entrance roof was pushed down and broke his arm. The flag was taken down right after it was raised.

The angered protesters threw a Molotov cocktail in apparent retaliation, but the fire was quickly extinguished. They later forced their way and demanded that the defenders of the building surround their weapon and leave. The interior of the building sustained some damage as the attackers, but no major instances of violence were seen.

Some more radical people in the crowd called for immediate revenge for the incident with the flag as the police chief Andrey Krishchenko as he was escorted out of the building, but their more cool-headed comrades restrained them. The officer, who reportedly was the one to push down the activist, sustained a head injury in a scuffle inside the building and was taken to hospital.

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Read more at: http://rt.com/news/donetsk-region-protest-escalation-348/