I have spent the last couple of hours fascinated by the live pictures coming from Kiev, Ukraine, via http://www.ustream.tv/channel/aronets For most of this time, the camera has been on a second floor balcony (?) positioned exactly between the line of armoured police and the mass of demonstrators, apparently near the Presidential headquarters.
At the beginning, the demonstrators were skirmishing with the police, throwing rocks. Then a police charge forced them back and the demonstrators pulled away, out of sight of the camera. Once they had gone, the police wheeled in mid-sized dumpsters and collected all the rocks from the street, presumably so they couldn’t be used again.
The police then spent some time erecting a barricade across the street behind which hundreds of them with shields stood in wait. The protesters gradually came closer once again and, perhaps as a result of negotiations, the barricade was removed. Now there is a solid line of perhaps sixty cops times many rows deep standing behind riot shields. The front line of protesters is about thirty yards away.
In the no man’s land between the two forces, camera crews are conducting interviews while security men try to keep the space clear. The aronets camera is now on the street, filming both sides. All the audio is is Ukrainian so I have no idea of what’s going on other than what I can see.
As someone once said: The revolution will be televised.
Posted by jakking 
Jak's View of Vancouver v.3 