Angry mob attacks coronavirus evacuees and starts a riot in Ukraine to try and stop them returning to the country
- Protesters lit fires and hurled rocks as evacuation buses drove to the hospital
- Armoured vehicles, hundreds of armed police and firefighters were deployed
- President Volodymryr Zelensky asked protesters to show empathy to evacuees
Protesters in Ukraine were seeing attacking six buses carrying evacuees from the epicentre of the coronavirus in China.
They lit fires to block the roads leading to the hospital in Novi Sanzhary, in the central Poltava region, where evacuees were being taken and threw rocks as the buses drove past.
Armoured vehicles carrying hundreds of armed police, national guardsmen and fire fighters were deployed to unblock the roads.
Protesters in Ukraine were seeing attacking six buses carrying evacuees from the epicentre of the coronavirus in China
The evacuees, 45 Ukrainians and 37 foreign nationals, were flown from Wuhan in China to Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine yesterday
Demonstrators set fire and erect a barricade as they protest the arrival of a plane carrying evacuees from coronavirus-hit China’s Hubei province
Fires made from sticks and refuse wood were lit by protesters in the middle of roads that lead to the hospital in Novi Sanzhary
The evacuees, 45 Ukrainians and 37 foreign nationals, were flown from Wuhan in China to Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine yesterday.
The country’s president, Volodymryr Zelensky asked the protesters to show some empathy towards their fellow citizens.
According to the country’s security service, the protest may have been sparked by a fake email which falsely claimed to be from the department of health that said some of the evacuees had the Covid-19 virus.
Armoured vehicles carrying hundreds of armed police, national guardsmen and fire fighters were deployed to unblock the roads
Protesters lit fires to block the roads leading to the hospital in Novi Sanzhary, in the central Poltava region, where evacuees were being taken and threw rocks as the buses drove past
National Guard soldiers close the gate of the sanitarium where evacuees were being taken
Ukraine currently has no confirmed cases of the virus. The country’s health ministry said none of the evacuees were sick.
To show solidarity with those who will be forced into quarantine, Ukraine’s health minister will quarantine herself with them.
Health Minister Zoryana Skaletska said: ‘I will spend the next 14 days with them, in the same premises, under the same conditions.
Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, Health Minister Zoryana Skaletska and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov all travelled to the city to try and calm tensions.
Injured men receive assistance during a protest against the arrival of a plane carrying evacuees from coronavirus-hit China’s Hubei province
President Zelensky urged compatriots to show solidarity and remember that ‘we are all human’
‘These people are our compatriots. We live in one country and have to take care of their health and safety.’
President Zelensky urged compatriots to show solidarity and remember that ‘we are all human’.
Covid-19 has so far caused 2,247 deaths and has infected more than 76,000 people across more than 25 countries.