Ukraine Crisis: National Guardsmen Fire into Crowd — Several Deaths Reported

People in East Ukraine line-up to vote on autonomy referendum. (Screen capture
from YouTube video)

NOTE: Interesting that pro-Russia activists are now being referred to as "insurgents" in this Associated Press report . —Ronald David Jackson

By AP
Voters in eastern Ukraine lined up at the polls in a twin referendum on sovereignty for two heavily populated industrial regions Sunday, amid warnings from the central government that the balloting was illegal and was being bankrolled by Moscow.

The voting took a bloody turn when Ukrainian national guardsmen opened fire on a crowd outside a town hall in Krasnoarmeisk, and an official with the region's insurgents said there were deaths. It was not immediately clear how many.

The shooting took place hours after dozens of guardsmen shut down the voting in the town.
At issue in the two referendums was the status of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where pro-Russian insurgents have seized government buildings and clashed with police and Ukrainian troops over the past month.

Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, warned on Saturday that independence for eastern regions would destroy the country's economy. "This is a step into the abyss for the regions," he said on the presidential website.

But the head of the referendum organizers in Donetsk said approval of the question wouldn't immediately lead to attempts to split off from the country. He characterized the voting as an effort to show the central government that the largely Russian-speaking east has legitimate concerns.

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