3 police officers injured in clashes in Kiev

At least three police officers were injured in clashes with nationalist demonstrators in central Kiev late Sunday, the Ukrainian police said on Monday.

The police officers suffered finger fractures, broken arm, or head injury, Ukraine's national police chief Sergiy Knyazev wrote on Twitter.

Local media reported that at least 10 demonstrators also had slight injuries.

The clashes erupted as protesters, who rallied in support of a railway blockade of the eastern region of Donbas, tried to break through the police cordon set up around the Ukrainian presidential administration building.

About 1,000 to 2,000 activists took part in the demonstration organized by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.

Since late January, a group of nationalist activists has been blocking the railways to stop transportation of coal and other raw products from the area in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-independence insurgents to the government-controlled territory.

Last week, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko pledged to find a way to end the blockade that triggered an energy crisis in Ukraine and that may lead to job losses in the coal and metallurgical industries.

Source: Xinhua