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At Least 25 Dead, Including a Journalist, in Kiev Clashes

19 February 2014
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Ukrainian journalist Vyacheslav Veremii from the daily Vesti was shot dead on Wednesday morning by unidentified persons wearing face masks near his home, according to Kyiv Post. Violent protests in Kiev, which exceeded any precedents on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, resulted in at least 24 more victims during the last day.

Vyacheslav Veremii was returning home in a taxi, together with his colleague and IT specialist Alexei Limarenko. The two were forced out of the taxi by men in face masks, who had blocked the vehicle at a crossroads. They beat the media representatives and the driver savagely. Afterwards, they shot Veremii dead.

Also, 27 journalists were injured or assaulted, and the records of the majority of them were deleted and their video and photo equipment was destroyed. The Ukrainian media organization Telekritika has published their list:

  • A photojournalist of Reuters agency;
  • Several journalists and cameramen of the 5 Kanal television;
  • A photojournalist of Forum.ua;
  • A photojournalist of the radio station Holos Stolytsi;
  • A journalist and a cameraman of the online television Hromadske.tv;
  • A journalist of the news agency Ukrainski Natsionalni Novini (UNN);
  • Two members of the filming crew of the TSN 1+1 television;
  • A photojournalist of the PHL agency;
  • A photojournalist of Censor.net;
  • Two journalists of Glavcom.ua;
  • An editor and a photojournalist of Insider.ua;
  • A photojournalist of Kommersant Ucraina and one of the daily Vesti;
  • The editor of the political column of the publication Dilova stolitsa;
  • A journalist of the Business television;
  • A cameraman of the Ukraina television;
  • A cameraman of the 1+1 television;
  • A journalist of the publication Chernigiv-info;
  • A journalist of the newspaper Uezdnye Novosti;
  • An editorialist and a photojournalist of the newspaper Tyzhden; and
  • A photojournalist of From-ua.com.

The official death toll reached 25 persons on Wednesday morning: 16 civilians and nine police officers. According to authorities, the number of injured is about 350 persons (including law enforcement), but the paramedics on site say that they are about one thousand.
 

On Tuesday to Wednesday the police and demonstrators engaged in the most violent confrontations since the start of protests in Ukraine. Street fights took place near the parliament building, the underground was closed, and the Transport Department asked citizens to avoid using personal vehicles, especially in the center of the capital and in nearby neighborhoods, and to use only public transportation, according to Mediafax. The Independence Square and the adjacent administrative buildings in Kiev were ablaze, while President Yanukovych declared Thursday, 20 February, a day of national mourning.

Source of photo: SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images via Huffington Post