Anti-government protesters in Kiev have set up an improvised catapult, launching stones and firecrackers at police cordons. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry has accused the opposition of arming aggressive protesters with dangerous weapons.
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Sunday’s violent riots have raised the spirits of some Ukrainian protesters to the point they no longer feel besieged by the police – rather, they think of themselves as the besiegers. Makeshift weapons and “crusader” shields that were earlier used in clashes with the police have now been joined by a “real” siege engine.
RT's Ruptly crew filmed the catapult in action after it finally became operational.
The catapult was later destroyed by police, RT’s Alexey Yaroshevsky reported.
Puzzled protesters and journalists watched Monday as a group of
masked people studied some plans, standing next to a pile of long
wooden poles they had carried to a central Kiev area earlier.
It soon turned out the protesters were building a catapult – or,
as some argued, a trebuchet.
The process sparked a Twitter storm, as excited users and onlookers waited for the catapult to deliver its first test shot. Some were celebrating the new protesters’ capability to “spew fire” and stones at the police. The metaphor appeared to be quite serious after Molotov cocktails were thrown directly at the police Sunday night.
Вот она - катапульта. В полной боевой готовности. Шляхта ў зброю! #євромайданpic.twitter.com/U6hx42NeK7
— РБ головного мозга (@belamova) January 20, 2014
Others appeared less fascinated by the anti-police weapon.
“What the hell is this catapult about? Have they watched too
much Lord of the Rings?” one Twitter user wrote.
“Templars, catapults… Is Ukraine living in the 14th
century?!” another one wondered.
Footage from the scene showed the catapult fully ready for
launch.
However, the test firing proved to be something of a damp squib,
with the projectile landing harmlessly some 10 meters away.
Protesters in Kiev just test launched their catapult. The projectile flew less than 10 meters
— Alexey Yaroshevsky (@Yaro_RT) January 20, 2014
After hours of fixing, the catapult appeared to be working better, and protesters flocked around it to load and fire rocks.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry on Monday condemned
the “commandants of Maidan” – the deputies from the opposition
representing the protesters rallying in central Independence
Square – for providing rioters with “dangerous cold steel
arms.”
The opposition deputies are handing aggressive protesters
“two meter-long wooden sticks with sharp metal tips,”
the ministry said. The improvised weapons are going to be used to
harm law enforcement officers, it said.
The MPs are abusing their immunity for forming illegal armed
units and inciting mass disorder, the ministry said.
While thousands of Ukrainians on Sunday peacefully rallied on
Maidan to protest the recently passed legislation they consider
undemocratic, heavy-handed and aimed at persecuting the
opposition, hundreds of radical protesters pelted police cordons
with stones and petrol bombs. The riots resulted in dozens of
policemen suffering injuries and several burnt out police buses,
but the much-anticipated forceful dispersal of protest rally did
not ensue.
Reports from Maidan said the protesters have been divided over
the role of the aggressive radicals in protests, some arguing
they are necessary to bring down the government of the President
Viktor Yanukovich, and others saying such riots only undermine
the movement that started last year in protest of Yanukovich’s
refusal to sign the EU association agreement.
The police opted for tear gas and stun grenades to contain the
rioting crowd, which the Ridus website estimated at around 2,000
people.