Ukraine says dozens of police hurt in clashes with lockdown protesters

Ukrainian law enforcement officers use a stretcher while carrying their colleague, who was injured during a rally of entrepreneurs and representatives of small businesses amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Independence Square in Kyiv, Ukraine December 15, 2020. Entrepreneurs gathered to demand governmental support and to protest against restrictive measures introduced to curb the spread of the coronavirus. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

KYIV (Reuters) - One police officer was knocked unconscious and 40 others received chemical eye burns from gas on Tuesday in clashes between police and thousands of people protesting a government lockdown to fight the coronavirus, the interior ministry said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's government has announced a tight national lockdown starting in January to fight the spread of COVID-19, in the wake of a recent spike in cases.