Violent fighting erupted between parishioners from rival Orthodox churches on October 17 as they battled for control of St. Michael's Cathedral in Cherkasy, Ukraine. The standoff came after the first midnight mass was held in the Ukrainian language by worshippers of the Orthodox Church of Ukrainian (OCU). But believers from the rival Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which has historically been linked to the Russian Orthodox Church, took over the building and barricaded themselves inside. They used tear gas to fend off attempts to evict them.
