KIEV, Aug. 8 – About a thousand supporters of imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s tried to block Kiev’s main street on Monday, suspending traffic for 10 minutes before being brutally dispersed by riot police.

The protesters briefly and fiercely clashed with police, but were overpowered by the more dominant and overwhelming force. One person was detained after the clash.

“I have never seen so many riot police forces in gear,” Arsen Avakov, a Tymoshenko ally and a former governor of the Kharkiv region, said. “They poured in from all cracks and buses to form a chain to stop lawmakers.”

There were about 2,000 riot police in the area trying to unblock the traffic jam, according to a report by the Internal Affairs Ministry.

“There was the traffic jam,” the report said. “So, the law enforcers pushed the protesters from street lanes to sidewalk. Physical impact and special means were not used.”

The escalation came as Tymoshenko had been taken back to a detention facility following the first day of trial on Monday after her sudden arrest on Friday. She was arrested on contempt of court charges.

A judge on Monday declined to release Tymoshenko as hundreds of her supporters had campaigned outside the Pechesrskiy district court in Kiev.

Her lawyers had appealed for her release on various grounds, including a petition supported by about 200 prominent Ukrainians, who vouched for her and promised she would not leave Ukraine during the trial. The petition was signed, among others, by Patriarch Filaret, the leader of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Tymoshenko’s arrest is viewed by her allies as a politically motivated pressure, and triggered criticism from international human rights organizations and foreign governments.

Tymoshenko’s party, Batkivshchyna, on Friday called on thousands of her supporters across Ukraine to flock to Kiev for a massive protest rally. The plan is for the protest rally to put heavy pressure on the authorities.

But Oleksandr Turchynov, the No. 2 in Tymoshenko’s party, admitted on Monday that the response from the people was weak, while the pressure from the authorities seeking to stop the protest action was high.

“We have to admit this,” Turchynov said in an interview with Ukrayinska Pravda online newspaper published on Monday. “If we had at least twice as many people on Friday we wouldn’t give them Yulia.”

“It all depends on the people,” Turchynov said. “This is the only thing we count on at the moment.”

Turchynov said the authorities moved to arrest Tymoshenko on Friday after learning that the opposition groups has been preparing a massive protest to unfold on the Independence Day on Aug. 24.

Tymoshenko said last week that President Viktor Yanukovych had allegedly ordered her to be arrested before the Independence Day, citing an unidentified source in the ruling Regions Party.

But Turchynov admitted that more efforts will be needed to energize supporters for more active protests.

On Friday, when many Tymoshenko’s supporters have tried to prevent her arrest in the courtroom, many more people have been standing on the opposite side of the street and taking pictures.

“Perhaps, some of them had sympathy with us. But most of them appeared to be not ready for active protests, or were simply afraid, while some watched with interest how will this end,” Turchynov said.

“Dear friends, this won’t be interesting,” he said. “It will be scary.” (tl/ez)