The center stage of Ukraine’s Euromaidan uprising was back up in flames today, as demonstrators there clashed with police in riot gear.

Tensions erupted when city workers attempted to clear the Kiev’s Independence Square from protesters’ tents — which have now been there for months.

In a scene evocative of the days of uprising in late 2013 and earlier this year, protesters responded by hurling bricks and bottles, and setting tires on fire, filling the area with acrid smoke.

Maidan burning. City authorities backed up by the Kiev Battalion cleared a section of the protest camp — Simon Ostrovsky (@SimonOstrovsky)August 7, 2014

"It's like seeing everything that went on in winter coming back: tires are burning, the police are here and so are people with clubs," Vitaly Lyakh, a local resident, told Reuters.

Ukrainian authorities said previously that they planned to bring the city back to “normal.”