1. Opposition rally at Maidan Square 2. Wide of rally, orange flags, stage 3. Wide of demonstrators holding flags, with placard reading (Russian) "Yulia, Stand Firm, Save Ukraine!" 4. People with flags, one man waving opposition colours 5. Close up of woman, opposition supporter 6. Wide, rally, with flags and placard reading (Russian) "Yulia, Bobrovitsa (a town) is With You!" 7. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Lada, local resident, Vox pop: "I don't like social and political system here, the standard of living in this country is rather low and whatever are the changes in policies and economy, in reality nothing changes in this country. That is what brought me here". 8. Close up of Orange Revolution and EU flags 9. Wide of rally, flags STORYLINE: Several thousand Ukrainians held rival rallies in the centre of Kiev on Saturday as a political feud between the president and premier deepened, increasing the likelihood that President Viktor Yushchenko will dissolve parliament and call new elections. Yushchenko laid out his case against his political rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, accusing the ruling coalition of breaking promises and trying to usurp power, and he threatened to dissolve the 450-seat Verkhovna Rada (parliament) if the situation did not change. Such a move could throw this ex-Soviet republic into political crisis, particularly if Yanukovych's coalition, which denies Yushchenko's allegations and argues that dissolution of parliament would be un-constitutional, refused to accept the president's decision. But if Yushchenko backs down, he could find himself politically weakened and isolated. On Saturday, his party passed a resolution appealing to the president to dissolve parliament and his former Orange Revolution allies began gathering supporters on Kiev's Independence Square to press the president. The stand off arose after a group of about a dozen lawmakers allied with the president defected and crossed over into Yanukovych's coalition, in violation of a new law that prohibits such switches of allegiance. Also under the constitution, the coalition can only be formed on the basis of factions - not individual lawmakers or small groups of lawmakers. Yanukovych now boasts 260 lawmakers in the 450-seat house, and his party has suggested they will soon reach 300, enough to overturn presidential vetoes and make changes to the constitution. Thousands of Yanukovych's supporters filled Ukraine's European square, waving the party's blue banners and flags of his coalition partners, the Communists and Socialists. Some 300 metres (1,000 feet) away, supporters of the former Orange Revolution allies began filling Independence Square, where rock music blared from speakers beside a giant stage. Opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko and the new head of Yushchenko's party, Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, were expected to address the crowd later. Police in bullet-proof vests manned barricades to separate the two competing rallies. They asked people passing from one square to another to put away political flags and scarves but made no attempt to restrict people's movement. Yushchenko accused Yanukovych's parliamentary majority of violating the constitution by taking away presidential powers and failing to fulfil a unity agreement that Yanukovych signed before Yushchenko agreed to accept him as premier. Yushchenko also accused the coalition of politicising the country's police force, carrying out murky privatisations, and failing to act on his proposals. Yushchenko came to power after hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians flooded onto Independence Square to protest about Yanukovych's fraud-marred presidential victory in 2004. The Supreme Court overturned Yanukovych's victory and called for new elections, won by Yushchenko. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/2cf00470bde9a780ae294eb8a849a935 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork

• published: 21 Jul 2015
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