Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has accepted the resignation of the prime minister and his cabinet amid the continuing chaos on the streets as anti-government protesters clash with police.
Mykola Azarov offered his resignation as a “social and political compromise” so that the country could moved forward with a peaceful political process after the government voted 361-2 to revoke the controversial anti-protest law. In a statement he said:
“To create additional opportunities for social and political compromise and for a peaceful solution to the conflict, I made a personal decision to ask the president of Ukraine to accept my resignation as prime minister of Ukraine.”
The vote was met with applause in the Ukrainian parliament as well as by those in Kiev’s Independence Square, the focal point of the ongoing protests.
At least five people have been killed in the violence so far, with violence escalating after the introduction of the anti-protest law which banned demonstrators from wearing helmets or blockading public buildings amongst other measures.
Parliament adjourned after the vote to discuss the possibility of granting an amnesty to convicted protesters, although Yanukovych maintains that such an offer would only be available if protesters stopped attacking government buildings and took down barricades.