Kiev protesters conclude occupation of City Hall

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Scores of Ukrainian anti-government protesters ended a 2-month-old occupation of City Hall in the capital, Kiev, on Sunday to meet a government amnesty offer.

Demonstrators had swept into the main municipal building in early December to protest Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych's decision to abandon a trade pact with the European Union.

Under an amnesty arrangement aimed at defusing the crisis, Ukrainian authorities have offered to drop all criminal charges against activists who have been provisionally freed as long as municipal buildings are cleared of protesters and some main roads are unblocked by Monday.

Masked men in military fatigues and the demonstrators they had protected against riot police since mid-December filed out of Kiev's City Hall on Sunday, but they threatened to return if authorities did not carry out the amnesty promise.

Opposition deputies said protesters had similarly pulled out of municipal buildings in several areas of western Ukraine, a hotbed of opposition to Yanukovych, and in one part of the southeast where the president has retained more support.

"We are doing all we can so that the amnesty law will be able to enter into force. There was a decision made to free the building of the Kiev Council (City Hall), and we are doing that. There will not be a single protester left there," said Oleh Helevey, a deputy for the far-right nationalist party Svoboda.

"But if the prosecutor's office does not declare that the law has come into force, we reserve for ourselves the right to occupy administrative buildings again," he said.

Opposition sources said protesters had also agreed to ease blockage of traffic on a through road leading to government headquarters and parliament that was the flashpoint in January of violent clashes between riot police and radical activists.

But they said barricades will largely remain in place.

The opposition has nevertheless warned that nothing short of Yanukovych's resignation will ultimately satisfy protesters.

Meanwhile, another large-scale opposition rally was scheduled on Sunday in Kiev's Independence Square, focal point of the rebellion against Yanukovych's leadership.

The unrest was sparked last November by Yanukovych when he spurned a free trade agreement long in the making with the European Union and opted for a $15 billion package of Russian credits and cheaper gas to help Ukraine's ailing economy. At least six people have been killed in the unrest.

About the broadcaster:

Lance Crayon is a videographer and editor with China Daily. Since living in Beijing he has worked for China Radio International (CRI) and Global Times. Before moving to China he worked in the film industry in Los Angeles as a talent agent and producer. He has a B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Arlington.