Ukrainian opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk says
protests will continue after he rejected President Viktor
Yanukovych's offer to appoint him as prime minister of the
country.
Mr Yatsenyuk said the opposition was generally ready to
accept leadership, but several key demands must be met,
including new elections.
Clashes continued overnight. Activists stormed a Kiev
building housing police.
The president's proposal came amid new efforts to end the
deadly unrest.
He offered the post of prime minister to Mr Yatsenyuk and
the position of deputy PM to former boxer Vitali Klitschko
following talks on Saturday.
But the BBC's David Stern, in Kiev, says the opposition -
confident in its position - appears to have taken these
offers as a sign of weakness on Mr Yanukovych's part, and
is forging ahead with the campaign to unseat him.
'Not afraid'
Speaking to large crowds in central of Kiev late on
Saturday, the opposition leaders repeated their demands.
"Viktor Yanukovych announced that the government wasn't
ready to take the responsibility for the country and offered
to the opposition to lead the government," said Mr
Yatsenyuk.
"What is our response to this? We are not afraid of the
responsibility for the destiny of Ukraine."
Later, in a tweet Mr Yatsenyuk said: "No deal
@ua_yanukovych, we're finishing what we started. The
people decide our leaders, not you."
Mr Yatsenyuk says that Tuesday, when a special session of
parliament has been called, will be "judgement day".
The opposition is demanding that a free trade agreement
with the European Union be signed and political prisoners
be freed, including former Prime Minister Yulia
Tymoshenko.
They are also demanding early presidential elections. A
vote is not due until 2015.
Mr Klitschko told the crowd that they would press ahead
with their demands and that talks would continue.
"We are not turning back and we will keep discussing and
trying to find a direction," he said.
Protesters created a corridor to allow police to leave
Ukrainian House overnight
The activists then stormed the building, where the security
forces had been based
Maidan, or Independence Square, continues to be the main
focus of the demonstrations
The opposition has vowed to continue the protests until
President Yanukovych agrees to early elections
Petrol bombs
The demonstrations began in November after Ukraine
decided not to sign an accord on more co-operation with
the EU. Instead, the government opted to deepen ties with
neighbouring Russia.
Late on Saturday, hundred of protesters surrounded
Ukrainian House, a cultural centre in Kiev defended by riot
police. Petrol bombs and fireworks were thrown inside.
But the officers were able to leave the building early on
Sunday. Mr Klitscho had negotiated their safe passage,
local media reported.
Mr Yatsenyuk is the parliamentary leader of the country's
second biggest party, Fatherland, and an ally of Ms
Tymoshenko. Mr Klitschko is the leader of the Udar (Punch)
party.
The crisis in Ukraine escalated this week when two activists
were killed, and another was found dead with torture marks
in a forest near the capital.
A fourth, 45-year-old protester is said to have died in a
Kiev hospital on Saturday from injuries sustained in earlier
violence.
Although the protest movement - the EuroMaidan - is
largely peaceful, a hardcore of radicals have been fighting
pitched battles with police away from the main protest
camp in Maidan, or Independence Square.
On Friday protesters seized a number of government
buildings in Ukrainian cities outside Kiev, particularly in the
west, which has traditionally favoured closer ties with
Europe, including in the cities of Chernivtsi, Ivano-
Frankivsk, Lutsk and Lviv.
On Saturday the protests spread to cities further east,
including Vinnytsya, just west of Kiev.
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