Several people were wounded when pro-Russian separatists attacked a rally in support of Ukrainian unity in the separatist-held city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Monday, a Reuters reporter said.
Dozens of men dressed in military fatigues and wielding baseball bats waded into the rally of some 2,000 people in Donetsk, heart of a separatist uprising against Kiev. They lobbed fire-crackers and what appeared to be at least one stun grenade.
A Reuters reporter saw at least five people with head injuries, including both protesters and separatists. The wounds did not appear to be life-threatening but the violence was a fresh sign of the spiralling tensions and disorder in the east.
The protest, during which people chanted "Donetsk is Ukraine!" and waved the Ukrainian flag, dispersed after the violence.
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