Masked pro-Russia activists stand outside the district state building after seizing it in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on May 4, 2014.
Chanting "we won't forgive Odessa," a thousand pro-Russian protestors marched across Ukraine's eastern city of Donetsk searching for the local military prosecutor's office -- which turned out to be empty.
As the crowd streamed through winding residential streets, young men in ski-masks climbed up to tear the Ukrainian flag from an office building, cheered on by elderly women and middle-aged men looking the worse the wear for alcohol.
At times bordering on comedy, but with the constant threat of extreme violence, Sunday's march was the latest example of pro-Russian fervour sweeping eastern Ukraine.
It came after 42 people died in the southern port city of Odessa on Friday, many of them pro-Russian militants incinerated in a building inferno.
Many of the demonstrators in Donetsk seemed unsure of where exactly the crowd was heading and how the protest had started, but they followed the core group of masked youths with shields and the odd automatic rifle leading the march until they reached what was meant to be the target.
"It's empty," a woman shouted after as she emerged from the run-down office building that looked like it had been abandoned for a while.
"They must have known we were coming and cleared it out."
As protestors stood in the street wondering what to do next, a group of masked demonstrators gathered in a circle to discuss the next move before setting off with the crowd trailing behind them.
"Where next?" a man asked his friend.
"Fuck knows," his friend replied.
"Nobody knows," said a police officer standing by the side of the street.
Pensioner Larissa Zhillera was pretty sure they were headed towards a military academy, and had a lot to get off her chest on the way.
"Napoleon tried to conquer us, Hitler tried to conquer us -- both failed and now Europe will too," the 74-year-old shouted.
"They don't know what the Russian soul is capable of," she screamed, before getting out a prayer that she had written and reading it out loud as she marched on.
- 'We aren't fascists' -
Eventually, the crowd ended up at what many thought was a district administrative building, but which the sign said was part of the city's accountancy department.
"If you don't open the door, then we'll make you open it," a young man in a mask shouted as he banged on the door and then waited patiently for someone to open it.
"I think they just want to tear down the Ukrainian flag from the roof of the building," one of the protesters said.
Suddenly, events took a sinister turn as people started sprinting and shouting. In a few minutes, a young man in a red and grey hoodie was dragged bleeding back to the front of the building.
"He's a Banderets," said one man, using the common term for nationalist pro-Kiev supporters.
"No, he's a provocateur from Lugansk," a woman countered.
Eventually, he was hustled into a car by the masked men leading the protest and driven off to an undisclosed location.
"What are you doing? We don't even know who he is," two women protested.
"We aren't fascists -- maybe we're no better than the other side," one shouted after the car.
As the crowd streamed through winding residential streets, young men in ski-masks climbed up to tear the Ukrainian flag from an office building, cheered on by elderly women and middle-aged men looking the worse the wear for alcohol.
At times bordering on comedy, but with the constant threat of extreme violence, Sunday's march was the latest example of pro-Russian fervour sweeping eastern Ukraine.
It came after 42 people died in the southern port city of Odessa on Friday, many of them pro-Russian militants incinerated in a building inferno.
Many of the demonstrators in Donetsk seemed unsure of where exactly the crowd was heading and how the protest had started, but they followed the core group of masked youths with shields and the odd automatic rifle leading the march until they reached what was meant to be the target.
"It's empty," a woman shouted after as she emerged from the run-down office building that looked like it had been abandoned for a while.
"They must have known we were coming and cleared it out."
As protestors stood in the street wondering what to do next, a group of masked demonstrators gathered in a circle to discuss the next move before setting off with the crowd trailing behind them.
"Where next?" a man asked his friend.
"Fuck knows," his friend replied.
"Nobody knows," said a police officer standing by the side of the street.
Pensioner Larissa Zhillera was pretty sure they were headed towards a military academy, and had a lot to get off her chest on the way.
"Napoleon tried to conquer us, Hitler tried to conquer us -- both failed and now Europe will too," the 74-year-old shouted.
"They don't know what the Russian soul is capable of," she screamed, before getting out a prayer that she had written and reading it out loud as she marched on.
- 'We aren't fascists' -
Eventually, the crowd ended up at what many thought was a district administrative building, but which the sign said was part of the city's accountancy department.
"If you don't open the door, then we'll make you open it," a young man in a mask shouted as he banged on the door and then waited patiently for someone to open it.
"I think they just want to tear down the Ukrainian flag from the roof of the building," one of the protesters said.
Suddenly, events took a sinister turn as people started sprinting and shouting. In a few minutes, a young man in a red and grey hoodie was dragged bleeding back to the front of the building.
"He's a Banderets," said one man, using the common term for nationalist pro-Kiev supporters.
"No, he's a provocateur from Lugansk," a woman countered.
Eventually, he was hustled into a car by the masked men leading the protest and driven off to an undisclosed location.
"What are you doing? We don't even know who he is," two women protested.
"We aren't fascists -- maybe we're no better than the other side," one shouted after the car.
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