A criminal case was opened over the Tuesday demonstration near the Ukrainian presidential administration's building on Kyiv's Bankova Street, which developed into clashes, and 17 demonstrators were taken to police stations for violating law and order, the Kyiv police department's press service told Interfax-Ukraine.

"Seventeen people have been taken to police stations," the National Police said.

According to the press service, a number of police officers sustained eye burns.

"The police instantly respond to all attempted provocations and clashes. Demonstrators used aerosol cans and threw flares at officers in the course of the clash," the press service said.

The demonstrators gathered near the presidential administration's building in Kyiv to protest against the sentencing of Odesa activist Serhiy Sternenko and clashed with the police. Tear gas was sprayed.

The demonstration supporting Odesa activist Sternenko gathered over 1,000 protesters, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent said in a report.

The protesters were trying to break through the police cordons around the Ukrainian presidential administration's building in Kyiv.

The protest against the ruling of the Prymorsky District Court in Odesa, which sentenced Sternenko to seven years in custody on charges of abducting Lyman village council deputy Serhiy Scherbych, was scheduled to begin near the Ukrainian presidential administration at 8 a.m. on February 23.