MOSCOW. April 14 (Interfax) - The storming of the police administration building in Horlivka began after one police officer pushed an activist off the roof as he was trying to install a Russian flag, a correspondent for the Rossiya-24 television channel reported to the scene.
The people who came up to the Horlivka police building this morning were unarmed and staged a rally outside its entrance, he said. A few hours later one of the young men tried to put a Russian flag on top of the building, but a high-ranking local police officer pushed him off the roof.
The activist suffered a basal skull fracture and is currently in the hospital, according to preliminary information given to the Rossiya-24 journalist.
The incident prompted the storming of the building which 30 minutes later went under the control of federalization supporters. The rank-and-file police officers left the building voluntarily. Two people have been hospitalized with a gunshot wounds, according to the television channel. According to eyewitnesses, the shots were fired at the police officers from inside the building, the correspondent said.
By 3 p.m. the bulk of protestors had moved from the police building to the Horlivka administration where a spontaneous rally is taking place. Russian flags and those of the self-proclaimed Donetsk people's republic have been put on the roof of the administration building.