Two officers injured as pro-EU protesters' barricades removed in central Kyiv - Interior Ministry

Two Ukrainian Internal Troops and Berkut riot police soldiers were injured as police forced pro-European Union protesters out of two streets in the capital, Kyiv, where they were blocking access to administrative buildings, the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper said on Tuesday.

"A Berkut [riot police] officer was poisoned by gas used against him by demonstrators. One soldier was injured in a stampede. His diagnosis will be announced later," Ihor Platukha, head of the Internal Troops southern territorial command, told the newspaper.

Up to 400 Internal Troops soldiers and Berkut policemen were involved in forcing the protesters out of the streets leading to the presidential administration headquarters, he said. People in civilian uniforms who dismantled the barricades put up by the protesters were utilities sector employees, he added.

No one was detained during the latest events, Plakhuta said.

Police removed the pro-EU demonstrators' barricades and protest camp in Kyiv's Liuteranska and Bankova Streets.

The Svoboda opposition party's press service said that policemen used truncheons to force the protesters to leave the site, injuring at least ten demonstrators, including Svoboda parliamentarian Sviatoslav Khanenko.

Several people among the protesters apparently sought to stage a provocation by brandishing clubs and using tear gas against police, the Hromadske TV station said.