Fears of Ukraine power vacuum as protesters vow revenge
KIEV -- In Ukraine, the president is on the run after protests became a revolution over the weekend. In the capital Kiev, they cleaned up and buried the dead. The government is nearly broke.
On Monday, as the U.S. said it would work with others to try to stabilize the economy, Ukraine's parliament was guarded by masked men armed with clubs and hammers.
They're the same group of hardcore protesters who clashed violently with riot police last week before former President Viktor Yanukovich fled Kiev. Security camera footage is thought to show him escaping by helicopter.
With no police on the streets -- and many men ready for revenge -- there are fears of a power vacuum in Ukraine. But inside parliament, opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk insisted they were in control.
"We
need urgently to form the government," he told CBS News. "This is the
revolution. And revolution always has complications and repercussions."
Many people told CBS News their country urgently needs reforms to make it more democratic -- not just a new leader.
They
want to stop the kind of corruption they claim allowed Yanukovich to build a
palatial home. The public has now been allowed in to see the luxury summer
house and replica wooden ship.
Dmitry Sylynko brought his 5-year-old son Alexi to see it.
"I think it should become a museum," he said. "This is a good lesson for our children on how not to manage a state."
There has been no looting, and the protesters have worked very hard to keep Independence Square clean and organized during three months of demonstrations. It may be connected to their hunger for European standards of law and order. Many of the protesters say they want better courts and tighter controls on government and its leaders.