Donetsk city council seized by gunmen with assault and sniper riffles

A flag of the separatist organisation Oplot was raised on the flagpole near the city council building.

Armed men entered the building after a meeting between the city's mayor Oleksandr Lukyanchenko and a Representative of the OSCE mission.

Korrespondent learnt from a source that 50 men with assault rifles, baseball bats and rifles remain in the building. Several sniper rifles were noticed among the weapons.

Oleksandr Zakharchenko, the head of the Donetsk unit of the Oplot organisation, says their main demand was that the Verkhovna Rada should adopt a law on local referendums prepared by Oleksandr Bobkov.

“We really need the law on referendums. Nothing will happen to the city council. We are a structural unit with strict discipline, so there will be no robberies or obstacles to the work of the city council employees. It will work as normal. The well-being of the city residents is the main thing. The only thing we will do is setting up barricades to control the entry. But the city council will work and citizens can visit it,” Zakharchenko said.

A special meeting of deputies of all levels of of the Donetsk region, members of the Party of Regions, is to be held in Donetsk on April 16.