KIEV, April 2 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's Party of
Regions hopes to bring up to 50,000 people on to the streets of
Kiev on April 3 to demand guarantees from the government amid
the ongoing financial crisis, a party member said on Thursday.
The party disrupted work in Ukraine's parliament on
Thursday to demand that Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's
coalition government produce an anti-crisis program and issue
anti-crisis guarantees.
"I do not know for sure how many people will take part in
protests in Kiev tomorrow. There could be thousands [of
protestors], perhaps up to 50,000," Mikhail Chechetov was
quoted by the UNIAN news agency as saying.
He dismissed rumors that the Party of Regions had paid
people to participate in the rallies.
The opposition party accuses the country's authorities of
being unable to cope with the deepening financial crisis. Some
3,000 party activists staged a rally in central Kiev in late
March.
Ukraine's economy declined by more than a quarter
year-on-year in January-February as prices for metals and
chemicals, the country's key exports, remained low. The
national currency, the hryvnia, has lost much of its value, and
ongoing disputes with Russia over natural gas have also stoked
political tensions.
Parliament voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday for
presidential elections to be held on October 25 this year,
three months ahead of the end of President Viktor Yushchenko's
first term of office. Yushchenko's approval rating has fallen
to single figures.
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