Protesters in Kiev on Sunday started evacuating city hall after occupying the building for months as part of anti-government unrest sweeping Ukraine, in a highly symbolic concession to ease tensions.

"City hall is almost completely evacuated," commander Ruslan Andriyko of the protest movement told AFP, as people filtered out of the building in central Kiev.

He added that demonstrators would stay stationed in front of the building for now as protests aiming to oust President Viktor Yanukovych would keep going.

City hall became the "headquarters of the revolution" after protesters stormed the building on December 1 following a brutal crackdown on demonstrators the previous night.

The evacuation -- a concession from the opposition -- comes after authorities made a gesture of their own by releasing all protesters who had been detained since the unrest erupted in November, when Yanukovych rejected an EU pact in favour of closer ties with Russia.

AFP