Columns of police left positions around the protesters' main camp in Independence Square and withdrew from state buildings occupied by demonstrators enraged at Yanukovich's decision to spurn an EU trade deal and move Ukraine further into Russia's orbit. Overnight the police had cleared streets near the protest camp, bulldozed tents and skirmished with demonstrators. They later surrounded the City Hall, where protesters who have set up a makeshift hospital in the occupied building sprayed them with water hoses to prevent it from being stormed.
Those moves by hundreds of black-clad police with visors and helmets were the boldest steps the authorities had ordered so far against demonstrators, although it was not clear whether they were prepared to use full force. At stake is the future of a country of 46 million people, torn between popular hope of joining the European mainstream and the demands of former Soviet master Russia, which controls the flow of cheap natural gas needed to stave off descent into bankruptcy.
At the main protest camp on Independence Square, pop stars, politicians and priests pleaded with police not to shed blood. Opposition politicians called for mass demonstrations to protect the square and predicted that Yanukovich would soon be toppled.
The interior minister called for calm and said the square would not be stormed. Police had been bussed in to the city centre to shouts of "Get out criminal" - a reference to Yanukovich, who suspended plans to sign a trade pact with the European Union last month and instead embraced closer ties with Russia. The police moves began in darkness near Independence Square, where thousands of protesters have maintained a vigil in bitter winter cold.
Those moves by hundreds of black-clad police with visors and helmets were the boldest steps the authorities had ordered so far against demonstrators, although it was not clear whether they were prepared to use full force. At stake is the future of a country of 46 million people, torn between popular hope of joining the European mainstream and the demands of former Soviet master Russia, which controls the flow of cheap natural gas needed to stave off descent into bankruptcy.
At the main protest camp on Independence Square, pop stars, politicians and priests pleaded with police not to shed blood. Opposition politicians called for mass demonstrations to protect the square and predicted that Yanukovich would soon be toppled.
The interior minister called for calm and said the square would not be stormed. Police had been bussed in to the city centre to shouts of "Get out criminal" - a reference to Yanukovich, who suspended plans to sign a trade pact with the European Union last month and instead embraced closer ties with Russia. The police moves began in darkness near Independence Square, where thousands of protesters have maintained a vigil in bitter winter cold.