The British Embassy in Ukraine has expressed concern over incidents during rallies outside the buildings of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), as well as subsequent events that took place the day before and stressed that the right to protest should be exercised peacefully.

"Concerned by attacks yesterday on civic activists outside SAPO, and that protesters forced entry and damaged property in NABU. The right to protest must be exercised peacefully, without intimidation and within the law. When this doesn't happen police must uphold law and order," the embassy tweeted on Wednesday.

As earlier reported, NABU said it is not ruling out that the raid on its office in Kyiv on Tuesday, July 17, was a planned provocation orchestrated by political forces connected with Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine deputy Yevhen Deidei and a close relative of Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

On July 17, 2018, an organized group of young hoodlums (titushki) between 11:00 and 12:00 broke into NABU's office. They first entered the public reception area in order to make their appeal. The destroyed a video surveillance camera, broke down the doors and a metal barrier separating the room from NABU offices.

NABU said police did not interfere.