The leader of the UDAR Party faction in parliament, Vitali Klitschko, has said that the Verkhovna Rada should demand that President Viktor Yanukovych dismiss Ukrainian Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko.

"The Verkhovna Rada should demand that the Ukrainian president dismiss the minister who cannot cope with his tasks at his post," Klitschko said at a morning plenary session of parliament on Tuesday.

He noted that the beating of journalists during an opposition rally in Kyiv on May 18 should be investigated by an interim parliamentary commission.

Klitschko said that those who organized and executed the incident must be called to account.

"We're demanding that police officers who covered up the fight be named," the politician said.

He said that police officers should leave their jobs. Klitschko also said that interior ministers usually resign in any county after such events.

As reported, a conflict erupted between representatives of the opposition and a group of unidentified men on Velyka Zhytomyrska Street in Kyiv at about 1420 on May 18, which later turned into a brawl. The young men began throwing water bottles and stones.

Several people, including Channel 5 journalist Olha Snitsarchuk and Kommersant photographer Vladyslav Sodel, were injured in the incident.

The scuffle took place during the opposition's Rise Up, Ukraine! campaign (on Sofiyska Square) and a Party of Regions rally (on European Square). The incident occurred outside the building of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's office in Kyiv.

On May 20, it was reported that the leadership of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's main office in Kyiv had ordered an internal investigation regarding the inaction of law enforcement officers during the incident on Velyka Zhytomyrska Street on May 18.

On May 21, the media liaisons office of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry reported that a suspect in the beating of journalists had been detained.

"We are confirming reports of the detention of a suspect in the beating of journalists Olha Snitsarchuk and Vlad Sodel. The minister will report on the details in the Verkhovna Rada," the media liaisons office told Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.

It was also reported that Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko would report on the incident in parliament on Tuesday.