Ukrainian opposition leaders invaded the offices of state-controlled television this evening on the eve of a planned mass protest against President Leonid Kuchma, the station said in a message broadcast on screen.
Opposition leaders, including Socialist leader Mr Olexander Morozov, Communist leader Mr Petro Simonenko and center-right leader Mr Yulia Timoshenko, and 200 of their supporters, raided UT1 offices in the capital Kiev, the channel said.
The Ukrainsky Novyne news agency quoted senior Socialist official Mr Iosif Vinsky as saying the three opposition parties were demanding three minutes each of screen time.
The raid forced UT1 to cancel its evening news programme, it said.
About 55,000 people across the country joined a mass demonstration last week to demand Kuchma's resignation and another rally is planned tomorrow.
The protest took place on the second anniversary of the disappearance of pro-Communist journalist Mr Giorgy Gongadze, whose murder has triggered an unprecedented political scandal.
The opposition accuses President Kuchma of ordering Mr Gongadze's assassination but the Ukrainian president has denied the allegations. He also is accused of illegal arms sales to Iraq.
The opposition plans another mass protest against President Kuchma tomorrow.
President Kuchma was re-elected in November 1999 to a second five-year term and has since seen his poll ratings plunge. According to a recent survey, nearly 72 per cent of Ukrainians want him to resign.
AFP