The relatives, frustrated by Poroshenko's failure to bring
officials of the previous government to justice, shouted, "Who is a
hero for you, Poroshenko?", "Where are their killers?" and "Down
with Poroshenko!"
They also attacked him for failing to keep a promise to confer the
title of national hero on the victims, which would bring financial
benefits to their families.
It was the first real public display of anger against Poroshenko,
who was elected president in May after the pro-Moscow Viktor
Yanukovich fled the country.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who is currently in Ukraine, had been
due to make a visit to the area off Kiev's Independence Square but
called it off, apparently for security reasons.
Friday marked the first anniversary of the decision by the
Yanukovich government to ditch a political and free trade agreement
with the European Union in favor of renewed trade ties with Kiev's
old Soviet master, Russia.
The move sparked protests from tens of thousands who see Ukraine's
future in the European mainstream. After Yanukovich fled in
February, Russia annexed Crimea and backed separatists in the east
in a conflict which has killed more than 4,300.
Before the confrontation with the relatives, Poroshenko laid candles
with other members of the government on a hill off Independence
Square - locally known as the Maidan - where more than 50 of the 100
or so dead were killed in late February.
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He was scarcely able to be heard as he tried to speak to the hostile
crowd afterward, but said: "If shouting like this continues,
everything we did on the Maidan will have been in vain."
He later returned to pledge that he would sign a decree to
officially designate the victims, known as the "Heaven's Hundred",
as national heroes as promised.
Elena, 65, whose husband was one of the Heaven's Hundred, burst into
tears.
"I don't know why it's taken so long, but now at last they've been
recognized ... They died so Ukraine could live."
(Additional reporting by Natalia Zinets and Pavel Polityuk; writing
by Richard Balmforth; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
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