Tear Gas, Flash Grenades Unleashed on Ukrainian Demonstrators

More than 300,000 gathered at Kiev's Independence Square

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Vasily Maximov / Getty Images / AFP

Ukrainian protesters wave an E.U. flag as hundreds gather for an opposition rally in Mykhayllivska Square in Kiev after police dispersed protesters in Independence Square on Nov. 30, 2013

Ukrainian demonstrators continued to rally in Kiev on Sunday, challenging a new government ban on protests in the city’s Independence Square.

More than 300,000 people congregated on the capital city’s central square, decrying President Viktor Yanukovych’s refusal to sign a free-trade agreement with the E.U. Police used tear gas, flash grenades and truncheons to contain a few thousand people who attempted to attack the presidential administration building, the Associated Press reports.

Kiev’s police chief resigned in protest of police using “excessive force,” CNN reportsBoxing professional Vitali Klitschko, a leader in the opposition Udar party, condemned the protesters’ attempt to storm the President’s office and called for more peaceful demonstrations.

The crowd is the largest since protests first began more than a week ago. Yanukovych was expected to sign the agreement as part of a strategy to strengthen ties with other European countries, but the President backed off and said he was facing pressure from Russia to not sign.

Protesters are calling for Yanukovych’s resignation, chanting “revolution” as the demonstration continues to grow.

[AP]