KIEV, December 3 (RIA Novosti) – A total of 248 people have received medical treatment in Kiev since anti-government protests turned violent at the weekend, Ukraine’s health ministry said Tuesday.
The ministry said that 139 people had been admitted at hospitals in the capital and that 46 remained under medical care as of late Monday. Their injuries ranged from head traumas and fractured limbs to bruising.
Most of the injured were treated on Sunday, when huge crowds of demonstrators poured into central Kiev and there were violent clashes between police and some protestors. They included 76 police officers, three journalists and four foreign citizens, the ministry said in a statement.
At least 35 people were hurt when Berkut special police units cleared demonstrators from Kiev’s Independence Square in a violent crackdown early on Saturday that triggered the next day’s mass protests.
The protests erupted after President Viktor Yanukovych and the government decided against signing an association agreement last week with the European Union to deepen trade and political ties, and to turn instead towards closer relations with the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
