Opponents of the language bill and President Viktor Yanukovych's loyalists are holding separate rallies near the presidential administration in Kyiv on Thursday.
About 200 Yanukovych loyalists holding Ukraine’s national flags have gathered at both sides of the presidential administration building, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported.
About a hundred opponents of the bill planned to march to the square along Bankova Street, but they were stopped by police deployed on the approaches to the building at a distance of about 100 meters from Yanukovych loyalists.
The protestors stopped at the police cordon making no attempts to break through. But they said they want to pass a letter to the president demanding that the language bill be scrapped.
Some were chanting “Down with the Gang!” “Concentrate on Work, not Language!” “East and West Together!” They also banged plastic bottles against the asphalt. Some held posters reading “Can Yanukovych Stop Ukraine’s Split?” and “Bill Damages President!”
