Voters in rebel stronghold turns their backs on Ukraine

SLAVIASNK (Reuters) - With the Ukrainian army at its gates and nearly every road in the centre blocked by makeshift barricades, the 100 percent turnout forecast by Slaviansk’s rebel mayor for the referendum on self-rule was always going to be optimistic.

But a steady trickle of people threaded their way past the roadblocks made from rusty machinery and tree trunks to cast their vote at one of the town’s 56 polling stations, complete with curtained voting booths and regulation ballot boxes.