Fed up with the pro-Kremlin paramilitaries—many of them suspected to be "tourists" trucked in from Russia—wreaking havoc in their cities, Ukrainian industrial workers put on their hard hats, fired up their backhoes, and took back the streets.

From the New York Times:

MARIUPOL, Ukraine — In what could represent a decisive turning point in the Ukrainian conflict and a setback for Russia, thousands of steelworkers fanned out Thursday over the city of Mariupol, establishing control over the streets and routing the pro-Kremlin militants who seized control several weeks ago.

By late Thursday, miners and steelworkers had deployed in at least five cities, including the regional capital, Donetsk, though they had not yet become the dominant force there that they are in Mariupol, the region’s second largest city and the site just last week of bloody confrontations between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian militants...

Wearing only their protective clothing and hard-hats, the workers said they were “outside politics” and just trying to establish order. Faced with waves of steelworkers joined by the police, the pro-Russian protesters have melted away, as has any sign of the Donetsk People’s Republic or its representatives. Backhoes and dump trucks from the steelworkers’ factory dismantled all the barricades that had been erected...

Residents welcomed the steelworker patrols for bringing an end to chaos and insecurity. They said that masked men had robbed four grocery stores, a store selling hunting rifles and a jewelry store, and had burned down a bank.

The crowds of pro-Russian protesters who had jeered and cursed Ukrainian soldiers last week were nowhere to be seen.

Impressive—labor power at work.