A former minister in Viktor Yanukovich’s parliament was thrown in a rubbish bin and pelted with trash by a mob after Ukraine ratifies economic ties with the European Union.
Vitaly Zhuravsky, once a member of former president Viktor Yanukovich’s ruling party, was seized as he walked past crowds outside the parliament building in Kiev on Tuesday.
TV footage showed a group of men screaming abuse as they grabbed Zhuravsky and bundled him head first into the half full bin. As he struggled to escape, one of the mob held him down by the head while others threw water and rubbish over him. As Zhuravsky appealed for calm, a car tyre was thrown at him hitting him on the head.
Zhuravsky, now a member of the Economic Development Party, authored a controversial bill in January severely tightening restrictions on anti-government protesters.
In the past, he authored a bill criminalising libel.
It came as Ukrainian MPs pledged to ratify a key pact with the EU and voted in favour of a plan to offer the separatist eastern part of the country limited self rule.