The first sitting of Odesa City Council of new convocation took place on Saturday.
Head of the city election commission Oleksandr Akhmerov read aloud the list of newly elected members of the city council. According to him, 68 out of the 120 seats on the city council went to the Party of Regions.
Then, the new mayor of Odesa Oleksiy Kostusev took the oath of office and went to the mayor's room, where he faced a mess: some of the furniture lacked and a chair was damaged, a correspondent of Interfax-Ukraine reported.
At the same time, some of Odesa media reported the forceful seizure of the mayor's office. At 1130, policemen and then the SBU officers entered the room using physical force against Olena Lebedenko, the press secretary of the city's previous mayor Eduard Hurwits, the od-news.com Web site reported.
Meanwhile, Odesa's online newspaper Reporter said that law enforcement officers entered the room to check it with a metal detector. Head of the Public Security Department of Odesa police Serhiy Tymusiak said that these were security precautions.
Head of the Public Relations Office of the Interior Ministry's branch in Odesa region Viktor Miroshnychenko told Interfax-Ukraine that the police have not received any reports about public order violation on Dumska Square and in Odesa City Hall.
