1 Dead, Dozens Wounded as Ukraine Protest Turns Violent

A Ukrainian national guardsman was shot to death Monday in Kyiv and dozens of protesters and police were wounded in an explosion during protests against more autonomy for pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine.

Mostly peaceful, flag-waving protests outside parliament turned violent after lawmakers voted to give preliminary approval to the changes demanded by the West that are aimed at restoring peace in the country’s restive east.  The blast knocked several people to the street, leaving them bleeding from their injuries.  Both police and demonstrators fired tear gas.

Authorities said the 25-year-old National Guard officer was shot in the heart and died in a hospital operating room.  The Interior Ministry said about 100 law enforcement officers were injured, 10 of them seriously, from the explosive thrown from the group of protesters.

The Western-backed peace plan agreed to earlier this year calls for Kyiv to adopt "decentralization" by the end of the year.  A total of 265 lawmakers in the 450-seat parliament voted for the changes called for by President Petro Poroshenko, with a final vote set for Tuesday.

The protesters call the reforms "un-Ukrainian," and said the constitutional changes would effectively legalize the rebels' control of eastern Ukraine, even as the insurgents say the changes do not give them the semi-autonomous status they are seeking.

One of the protesters, recalling Poroshenko's earlier life as a candy company magnate, held a sign saying, "Poroshenko, the country is not a candy; do not split it."

Another protester, Ivan Kirishenko, said, "I have a big question why young patriots in the center, east and west of Ukraine must feed old separatists in the Donbas," as Ukraine's industrial east is known.

Despite an internationally brokered cease-fire earlier this year, armed skirmishes between Kyiv's forces and the pro-Russian rebels in the eastern region occur frequently, with each side accusing the other of violating the truce.

The fighting in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions has killed more than 6,800 people over the last 16 months. Clashes erupted in the aftermath of the ouster of Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia as pro-Western leaders assumed power in Kyiv.

Fuente: La Voz de América, http://www.voanews.com/content/ap-ukraine-clashes-kyiv-after-vote-on-separatist-east/2939106.html