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LequteMan
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Protesters broke through police cordon in front of the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday, heightening fears that the country's anti-government demonstrations could once again turn violent.
Scuffles broke when protesters pushed through lines of police guarding the parliament building in the centre of Kiev, local media said.
The incident came as thousands of protesters started marching toward the parliament to demand constitutional reforms that would curb the powers of President Viktor Yanukovych.
Among the protesters were lawmakers of the three pro-Western opposition parties as well as the nationalist Svoboda party leader, Oleh Tyanihbok.
Inside parliament, opposition deputies were blocking the speaker's dais after Speaker Volodymyr Rybak refused to put the opposition's reform initiatives on the daily agenda.
Ukraine had been mired in political crisis since November after the government backed away from a trade agreement with the EU and signed a 15-billion-dollar loan deal with Russia instead.
Scuffles broke when protesters pushed through lines of police guarding the parliament building in the centre of Kiev, local media said.
The incident came as thousands of protesters started marching toward the parliament to demand constitutional reforms that would curb the powers of President Viktor Yanukovych.
Among the protesters were lawmakers of the three pro-Western opposition parties as well as the nationalist Svoboda party leader, Oleh Tyanihbok.
Inside parliament, opposition deputies were blocking the speaker's dais after Speaker Volodymyr Rybak refused to put the opposition's reform initiatives on the daily agenda.
Ukraine had been mired in political crisis since November after the government backed away from a trade agreement with the EU and signed a 15-billion-dollar loan deal with Russia instead.
