Clashes have erupted between Ukrainian protesters and riot police outside city hall in Kiev.
The clashes follow a night of scuffles and a stand-off after police moved in on a large protest camp in Independence Square.
But more demonstrators have joined the protest in response to an opposition call for solidarity.
The government’s decision to withdraw from a free-trade deal with the EU last month sparked huge street rallies.
Police stormed city hall as they tried to dislodge protesters from the building.
Reports said protesters used hoses to fire icy water back at the police.
Clashes have erupted between Ukrainian protesters and riot police outside city hall in Kiev
Protesters gathered around the police, chanting slogans against their action, said 5 Kanal TV station in scenes carried on a live feed from the protests.
Police had moved in on the protest at about 02:00 a.m., saying they wanted to free up a passage through the square for traffic.
Protesters in hard hats locked arms to form human walls to try to resist the police push. At least nine people were detained.
There were calls for restraint from priests intoning prayers and pop singer Ruslana – urging “Do not hurt us!” – on a stage in the square. More people flooded into the square in response to pleas for solidarity.
The latest police action comes after EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton held talks with President Viktor Yanukovych on Tuesday.
Baroness Catherine Ashton, who was cheered by crowds when she visited Kiev’s main protest site, said she was saddened that police had later used force to try to remove protesters.
“I was among you on Maidan [Independence Square] in the evening and was impressed by determination of Ukrainians demonstrating for European perspective of the country,” Catherine Ashton said in a statement posted on Facebook.
“Some hours later I observe with sadness that police uses force to remove peaceful people from the centre of Kiev. The authorities didn’t need to act under the coverage of night to engage with the society by using police.”
Riot police and interior ministry officers dismantled some barriers and tents but met resistance from opposition supporters.
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Thai police removed barricades from outside both Government House and the police office in Bangkok announcing that protesters are welcomed in the government’s headquarters.
The mood in the capital Bangkok appeared considerably calmer after the move, which followed clashes over the weekend and on Monday.
But as tensions fell, protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban vowed to fight on and remove the government.
PM Yingluck Shinawatra has rejected protesters’ demands that she step down.
Yingluck Shinawatra said she was open to negotiations but that calls for the government to be replaced by an appointed council were illegal and unconstitutional.
The protests, which began on November 24, had been largely peaceful until Saturday, when they became violent.
Over the weekend and on Monday demonstrators tried to break apart police barricades and storm the prime minister’s office, Government House, with police using tear gas and water cannon to repel them.
Protest leader and former opposition politician Suthep Thaugsuban said on Monday that the protesters would “take over the Metropolitan Police Bureau and make it the people’s”.
Thai police took down barriers and razor wire outside their building and it was announced that the protesters were welcome inside
On Tuesday morning – in a surprise and possibly shrewd move – the police took down barriers and razor wire outside their building and it was announced that the protesters were welcome inside.
Protesters were allowed through the barricades outside Government House.
Demonstrators gathered on the lawn of the headquarters, blowing whistles and waving flags. AFP news agency reported a “carnival” atmosphere at the site.
Protesters shook hands with police officers, hugged them, and offered them roses.
Deputy Prime Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana said the government was still functioning, but had asked the police to back off.
“We see the protesters just want to seize these places as a symbolic action, so we want to compromise,” he told Reuters.
The police move is seen as an attempt to prevent further clashes.
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Tens of thousands of protesters marched on Bangkok streets for a second day of anti-government demonstrations in Thailand, forcing their way into the finance ministry.
The protesters, who began their action over the weekend, want the government of PM Yingluck Shinawatra to step down.
After a huge rally on Sunday, crowds marched on Monday to several different locations in the city.
The protests have been triggered by a controversial political amnesty bill.
The legislation, which the opposition say would have allowed ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra – the current prime minister’s brother – to return to Thailand without serving a jail sentence for corruption, failed to pass in the Senate earlier this month.
But the proposed legislation led to a fresh outbreak of street protests, reigniting simmering political divisions and raising the specter of renewed political turmoil in the South East Asian nation.
On Monday the anti-government protesters, who are led by a former opposition Democratic Party lawmaker, marched to state offices, military headquarters and television stations.
Campaign leader Suthep Thaugsuban had said the protest would be peaceful, with crowds “blowing whistles and handing out flowers”.
But at the finance ministry, a group of around 40 people swarmed into the compound.
Tens of thousands of protesters marched on Bangkok streets for a second day of anti-government demonstrations in Thailand
“Tomorrow [Tuesday] we will seize all ministries to show to the Thaksin system that they have no legitimacy to run the country,” AFP news agency quoted Suthep Thaugsuban as saying.
Sunday’s demonstration drew an estimated 100,000 people, who called on the government to step down.
“We have stood by silently while her [PM Yingluck Shinawatra’s] brother calls the shots and she runs the country into the ground with loss-making policies,” Reuters news agency quoted protester Suwang Ruangchai, 54, as saying.
About 40,000 government supporters held a separate rally in another part of the capital on Sunday.
Thailand has been bitterly divided since Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a military coup in 2006.
Groups opposed to him occupied Bangkok’s main airport in 2008, shutting it down. Then in 2010, those who backed him and his allies held two months of street protests that paralyzed Bangkok.
Those demonstrations ended in a military crackdown. More than 90 people – mostly civilian protesters – died over the course of the two-month sit-in.
A government led by Thaksin Shinawatra’s sister was subsequently elected and since then Thailand has remained relatively politically stable.
But the opposition accuses Thaksin Shinawatra of running the government from self-imposed exile overseas, and the now-shelved amnesty bill has served as a spark for renewed protests.
The bill applied to offences committed during the upheaval after Thaksin Shinawatra was removed from office. Yingluck Shinawatra’s government had argued that the legislation was a necessary step towards reconciliation.
But critics said it would allow human rights abuses – such as the killing of civilian protesters – to go unpunished.
And the opposition viewed it as a way of overturning the jail sentence given to Thaksin Shinawatra, paving the way for his return.
Thaksin Shinawatra is a deeply polarizing figure in Thai politics. He drew huge support from Thailand’s rural poor but strong opposition from other sectors in society, and the divisions dating from the 2006 coup continue to dominate the political landscape.
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