KIEV, Jan. 26 - Protesters seized the Justice Ministry’s building Sunday in Kiev, triggering an angry reaction from the minister who has threatened to seek a state of emergency unless the premises are vacated.

Olena Lukash, the justice minister loyal to President Viktor Yanukovych, said the protesters must leave the building immediately.

“Unless the building is freed immediately, I will ask my colleagues at the National Security and Defense Council to discuss introduction of a state of emergency,” Lukash told Inter television late Sunday.

She said she will also ask Yanukovych to quit negotiations with opposition leaders over ways of ending the political crisis if the building continues to be occupied.

This is the first time a government minister has publically threatened with the state of emergency since the standoff between protesters and riot police has escalated earlier this month.

Yanukovych last week ruled out the state of emergency and pledged to continue talks with the opposition leaders.

Oleksandr Danyliuk, the leader of the Joint Cause, a group supporting the anti-government street protests that seized the ministry’s building, rejected the ultimatum.

“We are not going to vacate the building because the government is illegitimate,” Danyliuk said by phone from the occupied justice ministry. “The people are taking power in their hands.”

Viktor Baloha, an independent lawmaker and a former minister for extraordinary situations, said Yanukovcyh may be seriously considering the state of emergency

Yanukovych has quietly ordered State Service for Extraordinary Situations’ Ministry’s troops to Kiev to disperse the protesters if the state me of emergency is declared, Baloha said.

An emergency session of Parliament is due on January 28 and Baloha called on Regions Party lawmakers to ignore the session to prevent the state of emergency scenario.

“Regions Party’s lawmakers must by any means avoid coming to the session,” Baloha said.

The opposition leaders must “immediately end” talks with Yanukovych if the discussions are unproductive and there are signs the government uses the talks to waste time, he said.

He specifically urged opposition leaders to refrain from conducting separate talks with Yanukovych allies. All three leaders should attend jointly all the meetings with the government officials. “Don’t believe a single word he says,” Baloha said.

Many lawmakers have been taking a more active stance in Parliament to prevent further escalation.

Former Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, now an independent lawmaker, called on other independent lawmakers to take pro-active stance in solving political crisis in the country and eliminate potential risk of the state of emergency in Ukraine.

A total of 15 of 450 lawmakers backed Lytvyn and signed his petition.

"Parliament should take primary responsibility for the situation in the country,” Lytvyn said in an open letter on January 26. “We must exclude a risk of the state of emergency in the country."

Both Lytvyn and Petro Poroshenko, lawmaker and one of the opposition leaders, urged pro-government lawmakers they are responsible in escalation of the conflict after approving the January 16 laws and demanded “a chance for better future” for Ukraine.

Since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, “Ukraine has never before faced such a big threat,” Poroshenko wrote in an open letter to lawmakers. “Lives of Ukrainian citizens are in danger and the country risks its territorial integrity and civil war. Those who don’t see or deny that are either blind or provocateurs.”

There is still a chance for peaceful way out of the conflict if the parliament cooperates, Poroshenko said. “While we can still make our choices today,” Proshenko said in a letter to lawmakers. “Tomorrow those choices may already be made for us.” (tl/ez)