Riot Police Get On Their Knees To Beg For Forgiveness For Taking Part In Crackdown

[Yoshitsune]

Riot Police Get On Their Knees To Beg For Forgiveness For Taking Part In Ukraine Crackdown

Michael Kelley
Feb. 25, 2014, 5:37 AM

REUTERS/Roman Baluk

These photos by Roman Baluk of Reuters show just how quickly the tables have turned in Ukraine.

During a rally in central Lviv on February 24, local riot police knelt as they apologized to residents for taking part in the crackdown on protesters in Kiev's Independence Square aka Maidan (though they insisted that they did not beat protesters).

Lviv, a city of 760,000 near Ukraine's Western border with Poland, sent thousands of of people to Kiev to fill and defend Maidan. On February 19, the city declared independence from the government of President Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted three days later by parliament.

Volodymyr Parasiuk, a 26-year-old protester from Lviv, became a hero on February 21 when he denounced a EU-brokered peace deal and instead called from Yanukovych's immediate ouster.

Subsequently, many of Lviv's police fled the city, but these men have decided to ask forgiveness from the people.

REUTERS/Roman Baluk