Kiev protests buoyed by western Ukraine volunteers

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Young designers, their eyes glued to a TV set showing live scenes of protests from the Ukrainian capital, stayed up late one night to work on a pet project — not a chic gallery opening, but making battle armor for protesters.

Marianna Kvyatkovska and her friends used hunks of plastic drainage pipes to craft shin and elbow pads to protect the demonstrators from police truncheons in Kiev, where anti-government protests have gone on for two months. While largely peaceful, violent clashes with police broke out last week in which at least three protesters died.