KIEV, Ukraine — Heavily armed riot troops broke into the offices of a top Ukrainian opposition party in Kiev and seized its servers Monday, the party said, as anti-government protests crippled the capital for yet another day.
Elsewhere police dismantled or blocked off several small protest tent camps that near key national government buildings in the city.
Tensions also rose as a double cordon of helmeted, shield-holding police deployed in the street near Kiev’s city administration building, which occupying demonstrators had turned into a makeshift command post and dormitory.
The moves came a day after hundreds of thousands of demonstrators crammed into Kiev for the biggest in three weeks of protests that started when Ukraine’s president backed away from signing a long-awaited pact to deepen ties with the 28-nation European Union.
Protesters are angered not only by the thwarting of their desire to become closer to the West and spin out of Russia’s orbit, but also by police violence against the demonstrators. Club-swinging police have twice broken up protest rallies.
Ostap Semerak, a member of the Fatherland Parry, told The Associated Press that troops broke into the party’s offices on Monday evening, some climbing in through its windows.
“They are storming us. The images are insane,” he said by telephone.
The troops left after confiscating some computer equipment, he said. An Associated Press reporter later saw broken glass and smashed computers in the offices.
The party is headed by imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a longstanding foe of President Viktor Yanukovych, and is the largest opposition grouping in the parliament. Critics say Tymoshenko’s conviction on abuse of office charges was a case of political revenge.
In a surprise move, Yanukovych announced he would sit down with three former Ukrainian presidents on Tuesday to discuss a way out of the crisis that has paralyzed the country.
World boxing champion and opposition leader Vitali Klitschko warned the authorities against any further escalation in tensions. “We are calling upon law enforcement to restrain from using force against peaceful demonstrators,” he said.
