Chief of the State Traffic Police Department at the Interior Ministry of Ukraine Serhiy Kolomiyets denies the scuffle between the traffic police and Berkut special police detachment employees in a restaurant in Uzhhorod city.
According to an UNIAN correspondent, he claimed this to a press conference in Kyiv on Friday.
The traffic police chief stressed that the information, disseminated by mass media, does not correspond to reality.
“There was no scuffle between the traffic police and Berkut employees”, he stressed.
According to him, on February 6, employees of the Zakarpattya traffic police and soldiers of Berkut detachment gave a send-off to their Kirovohrad colleagues, who had been working in Zakarpattya for a month. At some moment, a citizen, who had previous convictions, entered the restaurant. He saw a Berkut employee, who had arrested him some time ago, and scuffled with him. Police employees, who were not fulfilling official duties at that time, called their colleagues who could arrest him. Having heard about that, the citizen called his “guys with bats”. All of them were arrested by police, M.Kolomiyets said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Uzhhorod Mayor Serhiy Ratushnyak claimed to journalists that more than 100 employees of traffic police and Berkut scuffled in “Detsa U Notarya” Uzhhorod restaurant. On February 6, 2008, a group of Berkut 20 employees gave a banquet in “Detsa U Notarya” restaurant. A group of Zakarpattya traffic police employees gave a send-off to their Kirovohrad colleagues in the same restaurant. There was a scuffle between the law-enforcement agencies employees. Fortunately for restaurant visitors, the law enforcement officers went to sort out their relations outdoors. At the same time, traffic police employees called for help, and additional policemen promptly arrived to the scene. In their turn, the Berkut employees called their duty detail, and other employees, who immediately joined the scuffle. That time, citizen of Ukraine L., who lives in Prague, and also took part in the banquet, decided to help the Berkut. He called his people, and strangers with baseball bats arrived and began to beat the policemen. Later, employees of Sokol police department arrived and promptly drove the crowd away.
