The Odessa Massacre, as some are already calling it, was the greatest single loss of life in Ukraine's unrest since the revolution in February. It has brought the country closer to civil war than ever before.
The battle lasted into the evening, when a group of pro-Russians, heavily outnumbered, managed to break away. Some witnesses say they melted through the police lines without being stopped.
At this point, an enraged crowd decided to march on the House of Trade Unions, located beside a park where pro-Russians had set up a small protest camp some weeks ago.
They decided to clear them out. They were angry after what had happened on the streets, said Alexandra, a local resident who was among the crowd that day.
The pro-Maidan football fans and self-defence units quickly destroyed the camp, setting fire to the tents. The pro-Russians tried to make a last stand on the steps of the House of Trade Unions, throwing up barricades around the great stone pillars in front of the doors. Finally, they were forced to retreat inside.
As people tried to escape from the burning building, however, some were set upon by pro-Maidan demonstrators.
But many of the friends and relatives of the dead are convinced that extreme elements in the crowd had murder on their minds from the beginning. Those Nazis set themselves the task of herding people into this building and killing them, said one man, who asked not to be named. They were peaceful protesters here. We have been here for months in these tents.
Moris Ibrahimov said: The people who lived in the tents went into the building simply to avoid bloodshed. But those fascists had the task of killing the people who were here.
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