Coronavirus: Ukrainian protesters attack buses carrying China evacuees as panic over outbreak spreads

Dozens of protesters have clashed with police and hurled stones at buses in Ukraine carrying more than 70 people who were evacuated from China over fears about the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Although Ukrainian authorities have worked to assure local residents in the village of Novi Sanzhary that none of the evacuees have symptoms of the virus, panic over a potential outbreak in the Eastern European country led to some residents attempting to block the buses.

SBU, Ukraine’s security service, said in a statement that a fake email purportedly from the country’s health ministry had circulated claiming some evacuees had contracted the virus.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the country’s president, has called for local residents to show support for the evacuees and said his government would do “everything possible” to make sure the virus does not get to Ukraine.

In an effort to show solidarity with the evacuees, Zoryana Skaletska, Ukraine’s health minister, has said she will join the quarantine for two weeks and run her ministry by Skype.

“Once again I want to emphasise: these people are our fellow citizens, they are not strangers to us,” she wrote in a statement.

“We live in the same country and we have to take care of their health and safety.”

Buses carrying the evacuees, who appeared to be unhurt, were finally able to reach the sanatorium where the quarantine will take place after hours of clashes.

Several hundred residents from Novi Sanzhary, in Ukraine’s central Poltava region, had spent the day putting up road blocks and burned tires to prevent the buses from passing.

Protesters, some of whom appeared to be drunk, also clashed with riot police as they tried to clear the road and one resident attempted to ram police lines with his car.

Arsen Avakov, Ukraine’s interior minister, personally visited the site to try to calm the crowd and said he was shocked by the anger.

“What we saw was shameful,” he said in televised remarks.

“It was one of the biggest disappointments in my life.”

However, municipal legislators in the local area have vowed to continue opposing the evacuation.

“We can't allow putting the health and life of local residents at risk, and demand that top officials take urgent moves to prevent people from China from being put here,” a statement from the legislators said.

Ukrainian police said 24 protesters were detained over the clashes.

Nine police officers and one civilian were hospitalised, a statement by the regional police added.

On Thursday, 45 Ukrainians and 27 foreign nationals flew to Ukraine from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak which has infected more than 75,000 people and killed more than 2,000.

Those evacuated included people from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Argentina, Ecuador, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Panama and other countries.

Argentina's Foreign Ministry has thanked Ukraine for its "generosity" in taking passengers and China for its collaboration.

Ukraine has no confirmed cases of the virus, which is official called COVID-19, at this time.

Additional reporting by AP