Ukraine Protesters Begin Evacuating Kiev City Hall
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Protesters in Kiev started evacuating city hall Sunday after occupying the building for months as part of anti-government unrest sweeping Ukraine, in a symbolic concession to ease tensions.
"City hall is almost completely evacuated," Ruslan Andriyko of the protest movement told AFP, as people filtered out of the building in the center of Ukraine's capital.
He added that demonstrators would stay stationed in front of the building for now as part of continued protests against President Viktor Yanukovich.
City hall became the "headquarters of the revolution" after protesters stormed the building on December 1 following a brutal crackdown on demonstrators the previous night. AFP reported that hundreds of protesters slept there each night to escape the bitter cold of the Ukrainian winter.
The evacuation -- a concession from the opposition -- comes after authorities made a gesture of their own by releasing all protesters who had been detained since the unrest erupted in November, when Yanukovich rejected an EU pact in favour of closer ties with Russia.
