By Andrew E. Kramer, NY Times, Aug. 31, 2015
KIEV, Ukraine–The results of a fiercely contested parliamentary vote over autonomy for eastern Ukraine were counted on Monday, partly in blood: 265 in favor, three major parties opposed and one dead policeman.
About 120 other officers were also wounded in an attack during a protest that intensified after Parliament approved a measure on constitutional changes that could grant autonomy to parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
The authorities said a man later identified as a member of a nationalist party had thrown a grenade at the police lines.
The violence underscored the tensions over a vote that many here see as a concession to Russia in exchange for peace.
Monday’s vote in Parliament was just a first step. Changing the status of the rebel eastern regions involves both an amendment to the Constitution, which must receive final approval from a supermajority of 300 of Parliament’s 450 members, and a separate law passed by that chamber.
The measure is fiercely opposed by Ukrainian nationalists and many others.
Supporters of the change say granting special status to the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk would co-opt the rebels’ major selling point, blunting the drive for separatism.
Yet the war has angered Ukrainians to such an extent, opinion polls show, that members of Parliament are struggling to win support from voters for any concession.
Three parties from the majority coalition in Parliament supporting Mr. Poroshenko opposed the constitutional changes, making it unclear whether the president can ultimately win approval.
As Parliament approved the concessions, protesters outside the building scuffled with police, and shouted, “Shame! Shame!” The demonstrators grew more agitated. Some tore helmets from the riot police and threw them on the paving stones.
Several loud explosions were heard. The interior minister, Arsen Avakov, said that a military hand grenade had been thrown into the police line, at a confusing moment when the police were hurling tear-gas canisters in the other direction.
After the grenade explosion, the police carried a dozen or so bloodied and apparently gravely wounded colleagues to ambulances, with the mayor’s office later reporting that one officer had died.
It was the first death in politicized street violence in the capital since the 2014 revolution, which overthrew Viktor F. Yanukovych, the pro-Russian president, after months of protests.
Mr. Avakov said the police had detained a member of a right-wing paramilitary group, Sych, that is the militant arm of the Svoboda political party, one of the three parties that backed the Maidan street uprising against Mr. Yanukovych last year.
KIEV, Ukraine–The results of a fiercely contested parliamentary vote over autonomy for eastern Ukraine were counted on Monday, partly in blood: 265 in favor, three major parties opposed and one dead policeman.
About 120 other officers were also wounded in an attack during a protest that intensified after Parliament approved a measure on constitutional changes that could grant autonomy to parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
The authorities said a man later identified as a member of a nationalist party had thrown a grenade at the police lines.
The violence underscored the tensions over a vote that many here see as a concession to Russia in exchange for peace.
Monday’s vote in Parliament was just a first step. Changing the status of the rebel eastern regions involves both an amendment to the Constitution, which must receive final approval from a supermajority of 300 of Parliament’s 450 members, and a separate law passed by that chamber.
The measure is fiercely opposed by Ukrainian nationalists and many others.
Supporters of the change say granting special status to the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk would co-opt the rebels’ major selling point, blunting the drive for separatism.
Yet the war has angered Ukrainians to such an extent, opinion polls show, that members of Parliament are struggling to win support from voters for any concession.
Three parties from the majority coalition in Parliament supporting Mr. Poroshenko opposed the constitutional changes, making it unclear whether the president can ultimately win approval.
As Parliament approved the concessions, protesters outside the building scuffled with police, and shouted, “Shame! Shame!” The demonstrators grew more agitated. Some tore helmets from the riot police and threw them on the paving stones.
Several loud explosions were heard. The interior minister, Arsen Avakov, said that a military hand grenade had been thrown into the police line, at a confusing moment when the police were hurling tear-gas canisters in the other direction.
After the grenade explosion, the police carried a dozen or so bloodied and apparently gravely wounded colleagues to ambulances, with the mayor’s office later reporting that one officer had died.
It was the first death in politicized street violence in the capital since the 2014 revolution, which overthrew Viktor F. Yanukovych, the pro-Russian president, after months of protests.
Mr. Avakov said the police had detained a member of a right-wing paramilitary group, Sych, that is the militant arm of the Svoboda political party, one of the three parties that backed the Maidan street uprising against Mr. Yanukovych last year.
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