DHAKA: At least 70 people have been killed during street fighting between protesters and riot police in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, while the country`s interior ministry says that 67 police officers were seized by the protesters.

A Media photographer saw bodies of 21 dead civilians in Independence Square, the centre of the protests, on Thursday raising the total death toll since Tuesday to over 50, according to counts by news agencies.

The Interior Ministry announced that protesters had seized tens of police officers, saying it reserved the right to use firepower to free them.

In an effort to defuse the situation, the national parliament late on Thursday passed a measure that would prohibit an "anti-terrorist operation" threatened by President Viktor Yanukovych to restore order.

The measure called for all Interior Ministry troops to return to their bases but it was unclear how binding the move would be.

Presidential adviser Marina Stavnichuk was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying the measure goes into effect immediately, but that a mechanism for carrying it out would have to be developed by the president`s office and the Interior Ministry.

The country is the object of a geopolitical tug-of-war between Moscow, which sees it as the historical cradle of Russian civilisation, and the West, which says Ukrainians should be free to choose economic rapprochement with the European Union. The protests by EU-supporters in the country have been going on since late November.

Source: aljazeera.com
BDST: 0902 HRS, FEB 21, 2014