11 December 2013 Euromaidan assault

11 December 2013 police assault on Euromaidan
Part of Euromaidan
Police clash with protesters on the night of 10 December
Date	10–12 December 2013
Location	Kyiv, Ukraine
Caused by	Police attempt to clear Maidan
Goals	Clearing the Euromaidan Protest
Methods	Protesting, raiding, civil disobedience
Status	Over
Parties
Maidan protesters Government forces Internal Troops of Ukraine Berkut
Lead figures
Arseniy Yatsenyuk Vitali Klitschko Oleh Tyahnybok Petro Poroshenko Yuriy Lutsenko Oleksandr Turchynov Andriy Parubiy Andriy Sadovyi Ruslana[1][2] Tetiana Chornovol Dmytro Bulatov Dmytro Yarosh Refat Chubarov Viktor Yanukovych Mykola Azarov Serhiy Arbuzov Vitaliy Zakharchenko Oleksandr Yefremov Andriy Klyuyev Hennadiy Kernes Mikhail Dobkin Viktor Pshonka Olena Lukash Yuriy Boyko Leonid Kozhara Dmytro Tabachnyk
Number
Kyiv: 400,000–800,000 protesters[3] 12,000 "self-defense sotnia"[4][5] 4,000 Berkut 1,000 Internal Troops 3,000–4,000 titushky[6]
Casualties and losses
Some injured

The assault of Euromaidan by security forces on 11 December 2013 was an attempt by Viktor Yanukovych's government to break up the Euromaidan protest through a night assault using Berkut special police units and interior ministry troops. Their tactics included the displacement of frontal peaceful protesters from lightly barricaded camps at the Independence Square and part of Khreshchatyk Street which is near Bessarabska Square.

The government claimed the need to maintain public order and the enforcement of a decision made by the Pecherskyi District Court, that was read by state bailiffs to the protesters. However, it was later established that such a procedure was illegal, as state executors only had the right to read decisions until 10pm. The court order was also explicit in the fact that Vitali Klitschko was forbidden to hinder citizens moving along the main streets. Vitali Klitschko himself was not aware of this decision, nor was he given the opportunity to appeal it.^[7] People responsible for the assault against the protesters have not been identified.