DHAKA: About 100,000 people rallied in Ukraine`s capital to demand the ouster of the president and his Cabinet as mass anti-government protests entered their second month.

Sunday`s rally was the latest in a series of rallies sparked by President Viktor Yanukovych`s decision last month to choose ties with Russia over integration with the 28-nation European Union.

"We will create such a hell for the authorities that the ground will burn under their feet,`` said Oleh Tyahnybok, head of the opposition nationalist party Svoboda.

Protesters have occupied Kiev`s Independence Square for a month, unhappy with the president`s pivot to Moscow, and have planned another rally on Sunday calling for his resignation.

But their persistence and presence appears to have had little effect on the president, who last Tuesday met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and persuaded him to buy $15bn of Ukrainian bonds and slash Russian gas prices by one-third.

Yanukovich has resisted calls for greater EU integration and rejected demands to leave office. He has also said he will not call a snap election.

But the ongoing political crisis could undermine his long-term staying power.

Last week Yanukovich said he would only seek re-election in a March 2015 presidential vote if he had enough pre-campaign support.

Source: Aljazeera.com
BDST: 0944 HRS, DEC 23, 2013
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