Ukraine detains 12 former riot police in deaths of protesters

Twelve members of Ukraine's disbanded "Berkut" riot police have been detained on suspicion of shooting civilian participants in Kiev's months long anti-government protests, a spokesman for the general prosecutor said on Thursday.

More than 100 people were killed, most by snipers, on the streets of the capital in the run-up to the ouster of then-president Viktor Yanukovych on Feb 21, with the new government in Ukraine blaming the Berkut police force.

However, the identity of the snipers believed to be responsible for most of the deaths is the subject of bitter disagreement. The interim government says Yanukovych ordered police snipers to be deployed - a charge Yanukovych denied in an interview with The Associated Press.

Opponents of the current leadership say snipers were organized by opposition leaders trying to whip up outrage.

Moscow and figures from the previous Ukraine government insist that the sniper shootings were largely conducted by civilians seeking to escalate the uprising in Kiev and overthrow Yanukovich, according to Russian media reports.

Institutska Street, which leads off from Kiev's Independence Square - or "Maidan" - saw the worst violence in Ukraine's 22 years of independence. In the final violent days of the protests, dozens of people were picked off by snipers, resulting in a surge of popular support for the ongoing protests that finally toppled Yanukovich.

Ukraine's acting attorney general, Oleh Makhnitsky, said those detained on Thursday were members of a specialized force within the Berkut called the "Black Unit".

"The police officers of this company were trained for special operations, including the killing of people. They were overseen by the presidential administration," the Interfax Ukraine newswire quoted Makhnitsky as saying.

Shadowy snipers

However, after the fall of Yanukovich, Russia Today reported claims from Ukraine's former security chief that the civilians were shot by snipers located in a building that was under the control of opposition forces.

Aleksandr Yakimenko, former head of Ukraine's Security Service, said the snipers were based in the Philharmonic Hall, which was under the control of Andrey Parubiy, the so-called commandant of the Maidan Self-Defense Force.

"Shots came from the Philharmonic Hall. Maidan Commandant Parubiy was responsible for that building. Snipers and people with automatic weapons were 'working' from this building on Feb 20," Yakimenko was quoted as telling the Russia-1 television channel.

Yakimenko said that snipers from the building shot protesters as they were chasing police.

"When the first wave of shootings ended, many have witnessed 20 people leaving the building," he said.

Reuters-AP