Minister threatens state of emergency if protesters refuse to vacate govt building

Ukraine threatened to impose a state of emergency on Monday after demonstrators occupied the justice ministry and protests demanding the president's resignation spread throughout the nation.

Leaders of the opposition to President Viktor Yanukovych said his olive-branch proposal to share power was not enough to end the country's worst crisis since independence. They demanded a new election this year.

The protests began two months ago over Yanukovych's rejection of a pact with the European Union. But they have now turned it into an all-out bid to oust the president.

Protesters have already attempted to blockade 14 of 25 regional administrations, including government buildings in the southern and eastern parts of the nation of 46 million that predominantly speak Russian and share a historical allegiance to Moscow.

Tensions remained high in Kiev as several dozen radical protesters from a group named Spilna Sprava (Common Cause) seized control of the justice ministry late on Sunday, smashing windows and erecting barricades outside.

Justice Minister Olena Lukash, who is taking part in negotiations between the opposition and Yanukovych, said she would ask for the talks to be broken off if the building was not vacated.

"I will be forced to ask the president of Ukraine to stop the talks if the building is not freed immediately and negotiators are not given a chance to find a peaceful solution to the conflict," Lukash said.

If the protesters do not vacate the building, Lukash said she would also approach Ukraine's national security council with "a demand to discuss imposing a state of emergency in this country".

Yanukovych on Saturday offered the opposition posts in government including that of prime minister, but his opponents said the offer fell short of their needs.

Yanukovych proposed sharing leadership with Fatherland party chief Arseniy Yatsenyuk as prime minister and UDAR (Punch) chief and former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko as deputy prime minister.

Klitschko, who is believed to have a personal rivalry with Yatsenyuk, condemned the proposal in an interview with German newspaper Bild am Sonntag. "This was a poisoned offer by Yanukovych designed to split our opposition movement," he said.

Rebellion spreads

Opposition leaders have been careful, however, to neither accept nor explicitly reject Yanukovych's proposals. They have said talks will continue, although it was not clear when.

Yanukovych's office has also said the president is willing to consider constitutional changes to reduce his power and return to a system according more authority to the prime minister.

A crucial day in the standoff is expected to come Tuesday when Parliament meets in an extraordinary session to debate key sticking points in the crisis.

Thousands of activists meanwhile laid siege to local government offices in four Ukrainian cities, including the eastern hub of Dniepropetrovsk, Sumy, in the northeast and Zaporizhya in the southeast that have in the past been sympathetic to Yanukovych.

Police used batons and stun grenades to break up the rally in Zaporizhya, causing injuries.

De facto powers in the occupied regional centers have passed to local pro-opposition lawmakers or improvised "people's parliaments" set up by the protesters themselves.

An emotional crowd packed Saint Michael's Cathedral in Kiev for the Orthodox funeral to pay their last respects to 25-year-old Mikhail Zhiznevsky, who was killed at the height of the clashes on Wednesday.

"He was a very brave, very kind person who gave his life for the future of Ukraine," said Iryna Davydova, a mourner at the ceremony.

AFP-AP