Chaotic scenes as Saakashvili dragged into police van in Kiev (VIDEO)
Video has emerged showing ex-president of Georgia-turned-Ukrainian opposition leader Mikhail Saakashvili being forcefully dragged into a police van. Protesters clashed with police in an attempt to prevent the detention, eventually setting Saakashvili free.
“Complete lawlessness! People, resist!” Saakashvili, who was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship earlier this year, is heard screaming while being forcefully taken away by several masked Ukrainian security forces (SBU) officers, who are then seen struggling to tuck the politician into a police van.
The video shows crowds of Saakashvili supporters clashing violently with Ukrainian riot police in an effort to prevent the authorities from taking the former governor of the Odessa Region away. Hundreds are seen blocking the street to prevent the police van from moving off.
Protesters eventually succeeded in setting the now-stateless Saakashvili free from the van by breaking the rear door of the van. He immediately called on the protesters to take to the infamous Maidan Square and topple the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his “gang.”
Saakashvili, 49, reportedly threatened to jump off a roof in Kiev after Ukrainian police broke the door to his apartment on Tuesday morning. Quick on his feet, he fled to the roof of the building to give an ardent speech to supporters gathered below.
