Three protesters died and seven
others were seriously injured during protests Tuesday in Kiev, an opposition
member of Ukraine's parliament told CNN.
Speaking from the protesters'
medical facility outside the parliament building, Olesya Orobets said
ambulances had been barred from the area.
The casualties occurred after
protesters set fire to the headquarters of the ruling Party of Regions and as
violence roiled the capital for the first time in more than two weeks.
At least seven police officers were
hurt, Ukraine's Interior Ministry said.
Thousands of demonstrators have
packed Kiev's Independence Square since November, when President Viktor
Yanukovych reversed a decision to sign a trade deal with the European Union and
instead turned toward Russia.
The unrest intensified after an
anti-protest law went into effect. Throngs of demonstrators took to the streets
to protest the law.
More than 2,000 people have been
injured during the clashes.
A sliver of hope for a restoration
of calm had emerged Sunday, when the government agreed to drop charges against
demonstrators in exchange for the protesters' agreement to leave Kiev's City
Hall and unblock streets in the city center, which they had occupied for almost
three months.
But violence re-erupted Tuesday,
after the speaker of the parliament would not let opposition members register
amendments that would have led to a vote to limit the rights of the President
and restore the constitution to the way it was in 2004.
Source: CNN
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