violent clashes engulfed central kiev as ukrainian police ted down barricades and chase rodgers on a fourth day of anti government protests two people have died so far. the crisis is being fueled by nationalists and radicals keen to grab the opportunity to push for a revolution we go live to kiev very shortly here on r.t. international. also this hour syria's government and opposition sit face to face for the first time since the start of the conflict the beginning of long anticipated peace talks in switzerland have exposed the parties very different views of the future.

this is r.t. international live from our studio center here in moscow where it's just turned nine pm and seven pm in kiev where two people have died in antigovernment protests in the ukrainian capital in the fourth consecutive day police have torn down barricades in the center of the city and. the retaliation of protesters has been equally as forceful what. is there for us now and let's see it's been pretty difficult to see exactly what's going on with all that black smoke behind you know now we have a link with you a telephone link tell us exactly what is happening now where you are. well that's a bad timing i'm sorry about that as you can imagine in a city under such disruption at the moment it's very difficult for us to maintain communications but i can tell you that we can go to our correspondent peter all of a he is also in the center of kiev and he's closely following the events as they're unfolding so let's get the latest from him now there are reports of growing numbers

of people gathering there in the streets despite the launch of the protests last today where the police are trying to disperse some of the rioters tell us exactly what is going on where you are now. well i'm currently stood between independence square and an area in front of the economic stadium. european square where there is a standoff again between rioters and riot police there's a line of fire a wall of fire separating the two that's been set alight by the by the rioters burning tires and thick black acrid smoke separating the two sides as a steady stream of people moving from independence square over to where that flash point is currently is currently under way what we're seeing is those people are coming they're carrying a lot of of rudimentary weapons some have helmets some with homemade body armor we've seen them carrying the likes of of clubs i am balls bits of paving stone that they've been breaking up there's been

a real operation going on among the rioters to to break up paving stones to provide them with rocks to hurl at the at the police and then getting them over to what is really now the front line and they say this clash between rioters and riot police no earlier on in the day the right police to clear everybody out of the area that's just behind me over there now while they were doing math and i was in the sky on the street at the time and we we were able to to fit catch on film exactly what was going on. what we've seen is a series of explosions going off for police police are trying to clear out the squares you can see a lot of people we're going to be removing this way a sun it comes the cover and i can move to the left here yes huge crowds of people who are going to try to get away from those barricades that we were up there can i please moving in with actually police the moving in there very very. they're pushing back very forcefully here. hopefully we're going to be going to be fine

where we are police have moved everybody off the barricades moved everybody away from where they were almost our case you know we're going to have to get inside now we're going to. we had to we had to get inside to get out of the way of what's going on this is that. the police have decided that they are they getting rid of and they're clearing out everything that was and those barricades this had been the position of such a a standoff between rioters and the police. or see the police deciding there that it was time to to put an end to that into into clear people out we saw a huge wave of people huge huge wave of people fleeing from those barricades and as police tried to to disperse oh that's all that is that is. what we're seeing a policeman now hitting a somebody who's on the floor right there repeatedly beating that person so yes the

police have now cleared out all the way some explosions you can see that we've had to come inside to the hotel which is nearby where those barricades were. in order to to get away from from what was going on. there are some wounded demonstrators some people who'd been beaten as the police have now completely cleared all of that area away this all happened very very quickly it all happened in a space of just a few minutes we heard a few loud explosions i believe they were. they were noisy crates they were flash bang grenades and then a charge by the police which is completely cleared out that whole area of where demonstrators place have been in a standoff for the last the last few days but all of this does seem that it's set to continue for a while yet will be trying to get back out there as soon as it's safe for us to do so to see what's going on almost a case where they were located. but yes it is now seeing demonstrators trying to

move back into territory that they were just expelled from by the by the right places. well that was the scene earlier on wednesday right now well the rioters have reoccupied those barricades and as i say they're separated from the police know by a wall of fire from those tires another thing is that they're birding and they're continuing to arrive. at standoff we see more and more people arrive at that standoff as they start toe to toe with the place here in central central kiev yes from the. ok peter thanks very much indeed for that that's all of the reporting live from kiev and also as we tried to contact him or other reporters he's there and i can now tell you that we can cross live to him peter was talking about the wall of fire we can see it behind you alexi where are you now and what's happening where you are now a bit closer to the actual scene on the right and i was on fire i.

just know that you find seconds it won't just rock and not that part of the barricade which they are now it's told it literally be to someone else then right now you might even see it in the background the protesters are setting up another barricaded in their attempts to stop the police from what seems to be an imminent assault the only thing which could stop the song from happening we've been hearing rumors circulating that real hours now that this the saudis to take place in the eighty's were actually telling that people don't vacate buildings all across the central part of. fearing for their well being and their help the only thing which may stop this assault on happening is the negotiation between the president and members of the opposition who do not the talks have already looted and we are now anxiously anticipating a press conference by the opposition there was nobody not the president nor the opposition leaders talked to the talks were done. press conferences about stock and

even it out that's where the opposition will deliver what they have managed to agree upon went with the russian. they have fact managed to free up on anything at all bill it is very tempting peter that i see the protesters are literally demolishing and dismantling many things in the second part of the city benches fences large pieces of rock to reinforce themselves here at the barricades this looks like a complete chaos and war zone in fact by all means. during the day i was witnessing just the speed or did the very first wave off a massive assault by the police on. push them off. before which i had fired at the stock prices because what i saw with my own eyes at this point i'm standing at right now.

so this is yet another attempt by the police to push the protest this off the governmental quarter they've just started moving as we can see they're covering themselves with shields the protesters the rioters are running back but they're still throwing rocks at the police it is very violent here we see that flash bangs are being exploded. from time to time although the police are not resorting to any kind of special mean so far they haven't even youth last bangs or non-lethal non-lethal form as far as we could see over here they've been waiting basically for hours for several hours before attempting another another go at the protesters we also heard earlier from the prime minister of ukraine who said that all those rioting in the central kiev are considered to be terrorists and will soon heard from the some of the official some behind the barricades from the police lines who have been saying that. they will use force if needed and this is the case as we can

see right now from our vantage point. defend the police are now in full in full swing this to get the protests this horse. they're clearing rocks and and move the cocktails at them i think we can see this naturally maybe several hundred policemen. and. they're also as we can hear banging their shields to give a proper psychological effect so that the protest is maybe more scared but now we can see there are no protesters remaining at the scene of the riots which has been the scene on the right for the past four days already that said the protesters have been pushed off from the governmental quarter several police lines and you see the one police line the other police line they're now securing the perimeter no major violence as we could see no. major violence from the police in fact i would say no violence from the police at all we can see the cops the police are not advancing to

the independence square which is literally two hundred meters away from here they're not advancing there they're just basically what they're doing they're securing this ground here that the governmental quarter pushed the writers from the scene and what they're doing the just securing it here now so they have quit clearly they're not intending to disperse the big protests the protests that the independence square the one which has been existing for several months already that we have rocks flying at the plant at the police again the protesters the writers are back are back as we can see and there can also see another wounded person being carried it is getting violent again although this time it's quite clear that the violence is coming from the protesters from the rioters not from the police the police is merely protecting themselves we can see a moment of cocktail there on the ground as well. again most of cocktails are being thrown rocks are being thrown that the police. so this is look

this looks like yet another yet another retreat by the police. and the protesters are. yvonne sing again the writers are bringing tires probably they will burn them and hold them at the police like they've done on several occasions already. the they're charging they're charging again at the police as we can see throwing rocks all the time thanks. well that was a report. hoping to go back to him live in kiev but we have indeed lost the communication as you can imagine conditions are very tough there at the moment the city's facing crisis and parts of central kiev resemble a battlefield right now as you've seen on our footage so here's a look at exactly where the events we're describing are are taking place just to put it in perspective for you this is xcode street this is

a very long street here in the city has been at the very center of much of the recent violence there and it's here that the fiercest clashes between rioters and police in the last few days including today when the police managed to push the rioters up that very long street towards european square which is the top here now this is where we're seeing the tires burning that wall of flames at the moment and we were just talking a little earlier artie's alexi had a chef ski he is there somewhere in the midst of all that black smoke that's partly why we lost the communications with him because the conditions are very very difficult while our other reporter peter all of a he's a little way back on european square stop here and to put it in perspective this is independence square on my dance square now that is where the main body of the anti-government protesters have been camped out for several days now and they are still there in great numbers despite the fact that the anti protest laws have now been enforced today well at the moment two hundred policemen have been injured

during these riots they suffered fractures head injuries and stabbings and gas poisoning more than eighty have been hospitalized financial commentator patrick young says the rioters attacking the security forces off a few reasonable arguments and compares them to an organized terrorist group. in kiev we certainly see a large number of protesters but do they really reflect the viewpoints of the entirety of ukraine well i don't think that's the case intimately we have this tragic situation where the ultras affectively a thuggish element to seem to have links to very extremist politics in many cases i mean some of them are natural socialists or fascist some of them probably have some sort of harkening towards communism certainly they're not the sort of normal average everyday people who really can be reasoned with these sorts of people existed all societies the truth is that normally when you have a reasonable rule of law you can manage to keep everything going from day to day on occasions of these sorts of fringes where their views have been inflamed

unfortunately by interventions from the european union and the united states of america which i think are wholly unreasonable in the domestic politics of ukraine and you will see them try and rise up and and deed those people are rather extreme some of them have very very ugly views indeed and of course they're demonstrating it through the violence that they're propagating on the innocent people of kiev and ukraine at this moment is not a huge majority movement demanding change it is all timidly a very well organized terrorist rabble. well with me now in the studio is news editor of across who be discussing the implications and the consequences of what's happening there in kiev at the moment also auntie's. who's witnessed some of the rioting over recent weeks in kiev. you were. now unfolding to be a tragic sad day for kiev are you surprised that it got to this level off to what you saw before all this erupted no not at all because the way that the protests

have been going since the end of november something had to have happened either the protests were going to die out and did look like they were going to that one moment . or they had to break out into something like what we're seeing right now and what we're seeing is well you know walls of fire very picturesque not necessarily very dangerous but creating that image of hell breaking loose you know the apocalyptic town is responsible people are saying it's the nationalists in effect hijacking the moderates a little i would agree with that because it did look like they were the ones who were most violently minded i would say the you could see the young people who always walked around carrying there were some sort of some sort of i guess armor or some sort of i don't know where you can see a makeshift weapons they always look terrible and ready to fight the only thing the only problem was they couldn't find. a fight to pick and finally your opportunity which is the laws that were introduced at the end of last week which essentially

prohibited the protest that was part of the for exactly no if i were introducing a protest. sounds as if it's unconstitutional was it right then that the government should have done that because look what's happened look i think i think. it's very clear that the manner in which those laws were introduced has weakened position guessing that there would have been a fairly central sticking point in the talks that he had this afternoon with the opposition leaders do you think is going to come out of these talks because they are they have ended now. a news conference just think any agreement would be made you think it's very clear right now. if the violence is the problem it certainly seems to be if you have the wanton destruction of property the rioting in the. production of a city center in flames and smoke is the problem well then. it shouldn't be too difficult for young coach to strike a deal at least with. his representative on the opposition council

that's to isolate the private sector to isolate the right wing who are now also in danger of alienating the vast. moderate middle ukrainians from the sentiments they set out to express when the rich humiliated the european union by rejecting the association because talking about agreement. from. the us and interfering is there are obviously there was a genuine upset about the agreement but the grassroots elements of this protest is it justified the comments of all for tarion and corrupt do you think the protesters do have a right and a justification for what's happening. right to go out and protest of course yes they do they have a right to said police but on fire calling themselves people the people of the

nation ready to be part of europe and saying they are europe and they have to follow the european model of behavior i'm sorry but i would have to say you know right talk about the way the authorities have. been very critical how do you see the way the police were dealing with the rights before the demonstrations i should say before they kicked off the police were told to not use any force whatsoever they were they had rocks thrown at them they had well they had knowledge of cocktails thrown at them until today there was no retaliation from police essentially or until last night you can say they were all my. they had strict instructions not to hold the provocations but if it's worth mentioning the right now i think what we're seeing we're seeing a change in tactics on the side of the police where we saw an armored personnel carrier. this afternoon and maybe signal of new steel to sort of thing you'd see in madrid or london in new york because they obviously authorities have been critical of course of course would you imagine something like this taking place in washington new york for the sake of course it would have would never have

been allowed to go this far and not to give perhaps as played and so things were ok what i'm still next then to should he call for early elections. criticized by the liberals and he's got he's going to be damned if he does and damned if you do is busy in trouble because the talking of revolution. in syria is really recognize that i mean anybody anybody who really simply says the situation i think recognizes the revolution is overblown. and realistic the guy's got electoral mandate and you know for a regime change to take place in the european space would create a huge ripple right across the european union as well you don't think it's also what you make of this opposition then is it credible is it which you know i should absolutely not by no means is a credible or mature and another thing that i would like to point out is the fact that at this point i'm not even sure if they have this entire crowd especially the crowd out on the european square if they have that under control because for

a while they were so i guess. unable to make any movement whatsoever and they keep claiming that they're not going to step down they're not going to change their demands but just a couple of days ago before ever before the riots actually broke out people on the independence square on the by were yelling leader leader because they were not seeing that leader where they were already dissatisfied with all three of the top opposition leaders so at this point even if they did reach an agreement with going to college they could come out there and my dad and say something but people will not hear them much talk of a divided country what we're seeing. it's because people blatantly say it's east and west the division and there's a lot of support for these but we're not seeing any and he supported rallies and in ukraine. recently this week in fact i've seen pictures of the reports of rallies. but frankly i don't think anybody's really. encouraged by the idea of what he had been protesting what looks like a battlefield right ok thanks

a lot we all know that we can now be joined by journalist manual oxon writer he can join us live here. thanks very much for joining us with this discussion several people dead many more injured and even kidnapped just just how far the rot is ready to go here and where will all this end. well first of all we short name it we should name what we see here and if somebody or if elements try to push their political opinion or their political aims by rough lyall and sent by killing people and by kidnapping people we have to talk about terrorism and when you ask ulf of those people who go they are showing already they are ready to go on board they are ready to go on war and they feel strong they feel strong that they can go on because they can feel like somehow like proxies proxies off the west they have the support of the european union they are not criticised in

a loud way by the west they have the support of the united states of america so they feel the support in their back for what they do and i am very that we will witness much more violence than we did within the last days sent especially the last hour and just briefly we don't know the outcome of these talks but what you make of the fact that the gesture made by the president to talk to the opposition is easy handling it in the right way at the moment. well we have to see that on the one side of course to go on a negotiation to talk with each other it's always the best way it's the better way than to shoot against each other but in my opinion he may be when he sometimes because the clear political aim of the rioters of the so-called opposition is to get rid of the president to make a regime change so they will do this maybe for a certain time to talk. to talk to the president. to overthrow the president thanks

very much indeed. just your personal thoughts here it is a beautiful city isn't it absolutely would you make of what's happening there and what do you think about the future and the long term damage is going to do that to the country and its people i think this could have very far reaching implications they really have to wait and see for i guess maybe another couple of hours maybe even we have to wait and see what the police say or they don't of course every time i look at the pictures every time i look at what's happening on t.v. i can't help but think about. the white guard one of his most famous novels and their description of the kiev during the revolutionary times and really sometimes it feels to me that the people are in the opposition they're sort of playing revolution and they got caught up in this game and they do not understand that they could essentially ruin the entire nation's future and president well that's a good point and i'm just finally flirting with the e.u. next for russia is in desperate need it's a bankrupt country just one of the long term implications of what's happening now

the country's come to a standstill isn't it. its economy is taking his yes at the same time if i'm not mistaken russia bought two billion worth of ukrainian bonds as part of the fifteen billion yesterday so the cash is coming in. that doesn't mean to say for any second that it's not a condominium drastic need of reform or economy riven by corruption or mass unemployment and like any peripheral. country of the aren't contributing periphery tends to export its unemployment quite a lot when employed in employed people head for europe looking for jobs so i think long term economically the future is definitely not rosy for ukraine politically we're entering an election cycle there are supposed to be elections in only fifteen or less as you mentioned you could call her actions. and frankly that looks like it's going to polarize ukraine to a greater extent than it ever has been parties news it's all because we thank you very much indeed and noughties correspondent and in english guy who's been there

firsthand experience all of what's happening there in cannes thanks both very much indeed for that lot international staying in the thick of events there in the ukrainian capital twenty four seven for you to keep you updated on of course this escalating crisis you can also keep up with what's happening that dot com.

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