In response to anti-protest laws in Ukraine, a standoff between protesters and police began on 19 January 2014 that was precipitated by a series of riots in central Kyiv on Hrushevsky Street, outside Dynamo Stadium and adjacent to the ongoing Euromaidan protests.

The Ukrainian anti-protest laws were a group of ten laws restricting freedom of speech and freedom of assembly passed by the Verkhovna Rada on January 16, 2014 and signed into law by President Viktor Yanukovych the following day, amid massive anti-government protests known as “Euromaidan” that started in November. The laws were collectively referred to as the "laws on dictatorship", by Euromaidan activists, non-governmental organizations, scholars, and the Ukrainian media.