Public security

Ukrainian protesters hurl stones at evacuees from China

Ukraine's effort to quarantine more than 70 people evacuated from China over the new virus outbreak plunged into chaos Thursday as local residents opposing the move hurled stones at the evacuees and engaged in violent clashes with police.

Buses carrying evacuees were finally able to reach the designated place of quarantine after hours of clashes. The masked evacuees, exhausted by the long journey, were peeking through bus windows as they drove slowly under a heavy police escort.

Protesters hurled stones at the buses and shattered a window in one of them,but the evacuees appeared unhurt.

Since the early morning, several hundred residents of the village of Novi Sanzhary in Ukraine's central Poltava region had cut the road to a sanitarium intended to host the evacuees, fearing they could become infected. Demonstrators,some of whom appeared drunk, put up road blocks, burned tires and clashed with riot police who moved to clear access.One protester tried to ram into police lines with his car.

Nine police and one civilian were hospitalized, the regional police said in a statement.

More than 10 protesters were detained, and Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov personally visited the site of the protests to try to calm the crowd down.