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Ukraine far-right neonazis burn down Communist Party offices following month and a half of looting

Fire started by Ukrainian fascist 'revolutionaries' all but destroys Communist Party of Ukraine offices as the country's security chief is alleged to have moved to ban the party outright

Neonazis have capped off a month and a half of looting Communist Party of Ukraine offices by nearly razing the building to the ground.

The party said yesterday that the so-called “revolutionaries” who ousted the country’s democratically elected government burned the central committee offices on Wednesday night, leaving it “almost completely destroyed.”

The fascists “did not stop even despite the fact that next to the CPU offices are houses, a hotel, a bank, which could also be affected by the fire,” the party said.

They had been rifling through party documents and using the office as a “lustration committee,” the party said — a repeat of post-Soviet governments’ blacklisting of communists from public office.

CPU leader Petro Symonenko accused members of the coup-installed government of supporting the arson, saying it clearly showed nazi methods in dealing with political opponents.

“We’ve seen it before,” he said. “The bonfire of books, the Reichstag fire — it’s already happened.”

He has now withdrawn Communist MPs from parliament.

Mr Symonenko also claimed yesterday that security services chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko had ordered his underlings to prepare the case for banning the Communist Party “by any means whatsoever, including direct falsifications.”

But the CPU leader said he was not surprised by the attacks, as terror and intimidation were “natural” for fascist regimes.

“Communists have never bowed their heads before fascism and do not intend to do it today,” he said.

Meanwhile, European powers have been mulling over how best to shore up the new West-facing government in Kiev.

News site EUobserver revealed yesterday that Britain, Poland and Sweden were pushing to send an EU police mission to Ukraine by June.

An informal paper, thought to be on the agenda for an EU foreign ministers’ meeting next week, suggests the mission should focus on “monitoring, mentoring and advising” as well as offering “strategic advice.”

Law and order remained a problem for Kiev authorities as occupations of regional government buildings in eastern cities Donetsk and Lugansk continued despite ultimatums to leave.

Local activists have demanded greater autonomy or even secession from Ukraine.

Acting president Oleksandr Turchynov offered an amnesty for the occupiers yesterday if they laid down their arms.

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