page_title: 2014 Euromaidan regional state administration occupations
section_title: 18 February riots
hierarchical_section_title: 2014 Euromaidan regional state administration occupations / Timeline of the occupations / 18 February riots
caption_attribution_description: Українська: Палає КПП військової частини внутрішніх військ у Львові на вул. Стрийській.
context_page_description: As part of the Euromaidan movement, regional state administration buildings in various oblasts of Ukraine were occupied by activists, starting on 23 January 2014.
context_section_description: At 2:30pm, protesters in Ivano-Frankivsk stormed the Ministry of Internal Affairs and then took over the headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). SBU staff refused to surrender the building, and rioters threw molotov cocktails and rocks at the building; all windows in the building were shattered, security bars removed, and the entrance set on fire. Berkut officers, who boarded themselves in the city's police station, eventually surrendered and left unarmed. The RSA was later captured.
  In Ternopil, the local attorney general's office was seized by protesters, and criminal case files burned. Interior troops defected from the government and sided with the people. On the 19th, Berkut officers stationed in Ternopil defected to the side of the people, swearing on a Bible an oath of allegiance in front of up to 7,000 people. The RSA was then captured.
  In Zhytomyr a new People's Rada was declared in opposition to the governing administration. The RSA in Zhytomyr was stormed by 3,000 people the next day, and set fire to the police department. The mayor of the city resigned from the Party of Regions.
  In Lviv, 10,000 protesters seized the general prosecutor's office, the local Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVS) building, and the SBU building. Documents from the prosecutor's office were thrown out and burned. The Interior Ministry building was burned. Soldiers in the MVS building were allowed to surrender unarmed. A BBC correspondent suggested the Interior Troops who did surrender were likely conscripts who support the protests.
caption: Burning barricade in front of the main entrance of the internal military forces in Lviv on 19 February 2014.
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