KIEV, June 5 - Clashes between riot police and protesters erupted in Kiev on Tuesday as Parliament gave initial approval to legislation making Russian the second state language in many Ukrainian regions.

The move further splits Ukraine along geographical and cultural lines and may bring in political instability at a time when the country is co-hosting with Poland the Euro-2012 soccer tournament.

Up to 9,000 demonstrators gathered in front of Parliament building.

After news emerged that 234 deputies in the 450-seat chamber had voted in favor of moving the legislation onto a second reading scuffles erupted on the streets. Eggs and bottles were thrown by protesters at riot police who had cordoned off areas of the city.

A group of protesters opposed to the law tried to force their way onto Kiev's Independence Square that will be a giant "fan zone" for the tournament.

They were countered by riot police but some UEFA signs were trampled by the crowd during the confrontation.

Some protesters chanted "if there's no language, there won't be a Euro," an apparent threat to disrupt the soccer tournament as thousands tourists and hundreds of reporters from around the world are flocking to Ukraine.

President Viktor Yanukovych’s Regions Party submitted the legislation in order to regain some of its lost popularity in mostly Russian-speaking eastern and southern regions of the country.

Opposition groups see the legislation as extremely controversial and a provocative. It allows introducing a second state language on a given territory if at least 10% of the people living in the area speak that language.

The legislation would almost automatically make the Russian language the second state language in Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Odessa, Mykolayiv, Kherson, Chernihiv and some other Ukrainian regions.

The opposition groups said the legislation would most certainly discourage people from using the Ukrainian language in those regions, and that may have devastating consequences for the national identity, opposition lawmakers have said.

“It was a temporary victory of the Regions Party and those who decided to align with them,” Arseniy Yatsenyuk, an opposition lawmaker who has teamed up with jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko for the October elections, said on her party’s website. “We failed to win this battle, but we will win the war.”

Yanukovych promised to make Russian a second language during his presidential campaign last year. Moscow has spoken out in support of the rights of Russian-speakers in parts of the Ukraine.

Parliament tried to pass the bill last month, but opposition deputies had formed a human chain around the speaker to obstruct the process. Their actions provoked a violent brawl inside Parliament during which at least one opposition lawmaker was seriously injured.

On Tuesday, Regions Party lawmakers created their own cordon around the speaker to ensure that a vote was not delayed for a second time. (tl/ez)