The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, has adopted at first reading a draft law on the creation of a temporary commission to investigate the attacks on journalists in Kyiv on May 18.

A total of 374 MPs voted for a respective draft resolution on Thursday.

Before the vote, the head of the Party of Regions faction in parliament, Oleksandr Yefremov, said that the Party of Regions is ready to support the proposal to form the composition of the commission on a fifty-fifty basis if the agenda of the commission's work also includes the investigation into clashes at Kyiv City Council on May 22 and the behavior of Svoboda representatives during May 9 celebrations in Ternopil.

Yefremov said that if these demands are not taken into account, the Party of Regions would oppose the vote.

A member of the Party of Regions faction, the head of the Verkhovna Rada committee on rules of procedure, Volodymyr Makeyenko, proposed voting for the resolution at first reading and introducing additions to it.

The opposition opposed the investigation by the commission into events at Kyiv City Council on May 22 and in Ternopil on May 9.

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 Vlad 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.

In addition, Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko said that the police had reclassified the investigation into the May 18 incident from "causing minor injuries" of Part 1, Article 121 to "hooliganism" of Part 2, Article 296 of the Criminal Code.