Ukraine's UK protest

More than 1,500 Ukrainians in London have demonstrated against their country's controversial election results.

In a show of solidarity with their countrymen back home, a huge crowd protested outside the Ukraine Embassy in Holland Park after Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich won the presidential election.

The protest came as the country itself stood on the brink of revolution after the poll was declared a fraud by international monitors.

Waving banners and placards, men and women from across London shouted their support for Viktor Yushchenko, the pro-Western opposition leader who is fighting for power.

Irina Tymczysyn, 32, a lawyer and one of the leaders of the demonstration, said: "Most of the Ukrainians living in London are here working as it is the only way for them to survive. They know if Yanukovich is in charge, that way of life will not change.

"We wanted to do something here to show how angry we are. This is a crucial moment in my country's history and the people in London wanted to be part of it."

Stepan Shtohryn, 49, a builder from Lviv now living in south London, said: "I voted for Yushchenko because I believe in democracy and in the future of Ukraine. Many of my friends have come to vote and I am sure that he will win - good will overcome evil."

Demonstrators have also signed a petition which they intend to hand over to Tony Blair later in the week.

In the Ukraine, tens of thousands of demonstrators poured into the centre of the capital Kiev for a third day of protests.

Despite sub-zero temperatures, men, women and children massed in Independence Square to denounce the election results.

Wearing orange scarves to show their support for opposition leader Yushchenko, who used the colour in his election campaign, the crowd marched up and down chanting " Yushchenko! Yushchenko!" Hopes that parliament would annul the results of the election crumbled, leaving opposition leaders pinning their hopes of gaining power on mass protests.

Today Yushchenko, the former national bank governor and Yanukovich, Moscow's favoured successor, were expected to meet in a dramatic showdown in which came Yanukovich will declared himself rightful president by swearing himself in.

Independence Square has become a vast tented encampment, stretching half a mile down the city's main road and resembling a cross between a refugee camp and a rock concert with teenagers and pensioners entertained by buskers.

More than 20,000 stayed in the square overnight, many working in shifts to cope with heavy snowfall-"There may well be bloodshed-it may come to this, but we have to stay here as long as it takes," said high school teacher Maria Florko. "I have come here from the city of Lviv, there are people here from all over the country."

Svetlana Simona, 50, a teacher in Kiev who had come to protest in the square with her 24 year-old daughter Valery said: "I am here because I want my son and daughter to live in a free Ukraine." .

Her daughter said that thousands of students had joined the mass demonstration after their university was shut down.

Restaurants and kiosks along the main boulevard have opened their doors to the protestors, sending out relays of food and hot drinks.