Opposition steps up Kiev protest :: Charter'97 :: News

Thousands of opposition protesters have crowded outside key Ukraine government buildings and temporarily prevented workers from entering, stepping up a campaign against what they say was a rigged presidential election.

Thousands of opposition protesters have crowded outside key Ukraine government buildings and temporarily prevented workers from entering, stepping up a campaign against what they say was a rigged presidential election.

Apparently emboldened by a Supreme Court decision putting the election results on hold, demonstrators began their fifth day of protests Friday as European envoys arrived in the ex-Soviet republic for urgent talks on the crisis.

Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma urged protesters to end their mass demonstrations for the sake of the nation`s citizens.

"Calm your passions. Any revolution must end with peace. The sooner this revolution, this so-called revolution, is over, the better it will be for the people whose fate concerns us so much," Kuchma said in a statement broadcast by Inter television and reported by Reuters.

"Let us stop. Then we can go forward. But clearly without any of the slogans we now see on the streets."

Kuchma offered to meet with opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, but officials from Yushchenko`s headquarters told CNN the candidate has not decided if he will accept the offer.

Later, AP quoted a European Union spokeswoman as saying Kuchma and Yushchenko will meet Friday in the presence of European envoys and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych -- the official winner of Sunday`s election.

The meeting will include EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, said Solana spokeswoman Christina Gallach.

In the center of Kiev, protesters linked arms and stood five deep in the freezing cold to encircle the Cabinet building, The Associated Press reported.

Reuters quoted a government official as saying the protesters blocked Yanukovych from reaching his office.

"The prime minister could not get into his office in the government building and so could not hold his planned meetings," the official said.

Protesters also used buses and vans -- decorated in the orange color of Yushchenko`s campaign -- to block surrounding streets.

There was no police presence in the immediate area, apart from a few traffic policemen wearing orange armbands, AP reported.

However, police were stationed nearby in about a dozen parked buses, and there were some 30 special forces trucks and jeeps parked in an alley hundreds of meters (yards) away.

Protesters also surrounded the presidential offices but did not try to cross the lines of special forces guarding the building. Instead they sang Ukrainian folk songs, waved orange banners and chanted Yushchenko`s name, Reuters reported.

In Chernihiv, about 150 km (80 miles) north of Kiev, police fired shots over the heads of a pro-Yushchenko crowd trying to enter a city council meeting and threw tear gas at the crowd, AP reported the Unian news agency as saying.

The Unian report cited parliament member Mykola Rudkovsky as saying that ambulances were on the scene, but there were no immediate details of any injuries, AP said.

In Kiev, Yushchenko ally and Socialist leader Oleksander Moroz said the protesters` latest actions -- which slowed workers from entering the buildings -- were making a mockery of government control.

Asked how long the supporters would keep up their protest, he told Reuters: "Victory began yesterday" -- an apparent reference to Thursday`s court decision. Moroz noted that some police officers were switching sides to support the demonstrators.

Growing numbers of pro-government demonstrators also were on the streets of Kiev, waving blue-and-white banners in support of Yanukovych.

Solana, Kwasniewski and Adamkus arrived in Kiev Friday in an attempt to negotiate a settlement.

Kwasniewski, a pivotal regional figure with credibility on both sides, came at Kuchma`s request. He brought a three-point plan: to call on both sides to renounce violence, to urge a re-count of the vote and to try to initiate talks, AP reported.

Kwasniewski met Kuchma at his villa outside Kiev, news reports said. Solana also met with Kuchma.

Also expected for talks was Jan Kubis, secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, whose observers said the vote was marred by fraud.

Ukraine`s parliament has decided to hold an emergency debate on the crisis on Saturday, Reuters quoted a spokesman for the chamber`s speaker as saying. All the chamber`s factions supported the plan except Yanukovich`s Party of the Regions.

On Thursday, European Union leaders and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin agreed at a summit at The Hague that the crisis should be resolved through peaceful means. But that`s about as far as their agreement went.

The EU has joined the United States and Canada in rejecting the results of the election and called for an investigation into allegations of vote rigging.

But Putin warned the international community against interfering and said only Ukrainians could decide the winner of their election. (Full story)

Also Thursday, the Ukraine Supreme Court said it would conduct an examination into the election on Monday, Russia`s Interfax news agency said. (Full story)

The court decision delays Yanukovych`s inauguration and keeps Kuchma in power for the time being.

"The court ruling bars the Central Election Commission from officially publishing the results of the election and proceeding with any other action connected with this," a statement from the court said.

Yushchenko, who filed a challenge with the court, immediately hailed the ruling as a victory.

"This is only the beginning. It is proof that it is society that always wins. It is small compensation for the suffering that we have endured," he told tens of thousands of supporters in Kiev`s Independence Square to wild cheering.

Although Yanukovych enjoys the backing of Putin and Kuchma, Ukraine`s Supreme Court is respected as an unbiased body that hasn`t hesitated to take decisions against the government, political analyst Igor Zdanov of the Kiev-based Razumkov think tank told AP.

Yanukovych, speaking at a Thursday news conference, called the continuing demonstrations "worrisome."

"It`s romanticism, and it`s dangerous to have children and students on the street," he said

The prime minister called for calm, saying, "I see no way to decide this situation with ultimatums or pressure on the government."

Opposition supporters received another boost Thursday from former Polish leader and Solidarity founder Lech Walesa, who addressed the tens of thousands of protesters gathered in the capital`s main square.

"I am amazed with your emotions and your enthusiasm. I am deeply sure that it will lead to your victory," The Associated Press quoted Walesa as saying.

Another Yushchenko ally, Oleksander Zinchenko, said the opposition chief had issued a half dozen "decrees" on behalf of a newly created Committee for National Salvation to uphold public order and guarantee media freedoms.

The election commission said Yanukovych won the election with 49.46 percent of the vote to Yushchenko`s 46.61 percent.

But four of the panel`s 15 members voted against the final report in a raucous meeting that was broadcast live on Ukrainian television.

Yushchenko called for an "all-Ukrainian political strike" after election officials declared Yanukovych the winner.

Ukrainian legal experts told CNN that while Yushchenko could not appeal the election results, he could appeal the actions of the election commission.

Yushchenko could argue it acted too quickly in declaring a winner without investigating allegations of fraud and abuse, the experts said.

In an exclusive interview with CNN, Yushchenko said the commission should set aside the results and call new elections in districts where documented irregularities took place. (Full story)

Election monitor Nelson Ledsky said observers noted cases of ballot stuffing, more votes recorded in some areas than registered voters, and some employees being threatened with losing their jobs if they did not mark ballots before the election.

"There is an understanding widespread over the country that the vote was rigged," said Ledsky, Eurasia regional director of the National Democratic Institute.

CNN`s Jill Dougherty and Ryan Chilcote contributed to this report.