Ukraine Uprising Spreads Beyond Kiev in Growing Challenge to President

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Protesters broke into the building of the regional governor's office in Lviv, Western Ukraine, Jan. 23. Tensions in Ukraine spread far from its embattled capital on Thursday as hundreds of people in the city of Lviv stormed into the regional governor's office and forced him to write a letter of resignation.

Image: Pavlo Palamarchuk/Associated Press

By Christopher Miller2014-01-24 02:31:48 UTC

KIEV, UKRAINE — President Viktor Yanukovych on Thursday faced a growing challenge to his leadership as anti-government protesters captured regional government buildings across western Ukraine while he held crisis talks in Kiev with opposition leaders.

Protesters stormed offices in the cities of Khmelnytsky, Rivne, Ternopil and Lviv, where they forced the regional governor, Oleh Salo, to pen a letter of resignation. A presidential appointee, Salo later reneged on his agreement to step down, saying he was forced to tender the resignation.

Separate groups tried their hand at taking over regional offices in Cherkassy, Ivano-Frankivsk, Sumy, Vinnytsia and Zhytomyr, but failed. They told local media that they would return Friday to try again.

The raids on administrative offices put a spotlight on the tense political crisis in the country that in recent days has lead to heightened violence and the deaths of at least two people, according to the Interior Ministry.

The latest case of civil unrest was spurred by the hurried passage of repressive anti-protest and freedom of speech laws that restrict public protests and criminalize libel, offenses that will fetch violators up to 15 years behind bars.

Fires continued to burn on Thursday night at Hrushevskoho Street, the site of brutal clashes between police and protesters over the past four days.

But the violence had paused due to a cease-fire ordered on Wednesday by opposition leaders Vitali Klitschko of the UDAR party, Arseniy Yatseniuk of the Fatherland Party, and Oleg Tyagnibok of the nationalist Svoboda Party.

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Protesters stand guard at a barricade between police and protesters in central Kiev, Ukraine, Jan. 23

The trio gave Yanukovych 24 hours to negotiate a peaceful way out of the current political gridlock, or else protesters would again go on the offensive.

Their demands include the release of all demonstrators detained over the past two months of protests here. Opposition leaders also demand the president fire his government, order snap elections and then resign.

After four hours of negotiations on Thursday evening, the three leaders emerged with an offer from the president: Parliament would call a special session on Jan. 28, which would include a vote to repeal the strict new laws and consider the removal of the government and snap elections.

As part of the deal, authorities would also release dozens of protesters being held for participating in public protests in the next three days.

Klitschko said that "very little" was achieved in the meeting.

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Opposition leader and former WBC heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, center, addresses protesters near barricades between police and protesters in central Kiev, Ukraine, Jan. 23

Image: Sergei Chuzavkov/Associated Press

Posing the question to a crowd of more than 50,000 protesters around midnight of whether to accept the president's deal, opposition leaders were met with jeers and boos.

Opposition leaders appeared to be split, with reactions to the offer mixed. While Tiahnybok warned of further crackdowns by authorities if the deal were declined, telling journalists he thought it should be accepted, Yatseniuk encouraged protesters to construct new barricades.

Hundreds of them, donning balaclavas and helmets, clubs and crowbars in tow in case of a police attack, heeded his advice and began erecting one on Institutska Street near the Presidential Administration, expanding their encampment.

President Yanukovych on Thursday called for an emergency session of parliament to be held on Jan. 28 in order to solve the current crises. But experts warn that the president might use it to have his ruling Party of Regions vote on allowing him to declare a state of emergency.

The procedure for doing so, says Taras Berezovets, director of Berta Communications and a political consultant with high-level contacts in the government, is simple.

First, the president addresses the nation, which Yanukovych did on Monday when he called on people to “restore peace and stability in Ukraine.”

Two days after making such a statement, the cabinet or national security councils can ask that parliament consider a state of emergency in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament. If passed by a majority, it can be introduced the following day and imposed nationwide for 30 days or citywide for 60 days.

A state of emergency would grant Yanukovych the extrajudicial power needed to wage a large-scale crackdown on the anti-government protests using force and new weaponry not yet seen on the streets of Kiev.

“The logic of Yanukovych is to go to the very end," Berezovets said. "He won’t stop, even if it means more victims, more blood.”