KIEV, Nov. 22 – Thousands of protesters on Monday joined a rally in downtown Kiev demanding President Viktor Yanukovych veto controversial tax legislation, and vowed to keep the pressure growing until the action is taken.

The protesters erected half a dozen of tents at Maydan Nezalezhnosti and hundreds of them have decided to stay through night in the area, defying cold weather.

The developments come exactly six years after the start of the Orange Revolution, a spontaneous people’s uprising against election fraud that had caught headlines of international media in November 2004, and had led to a change of power in the country.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters, mainly small business owners, have gathered for the rally, and marched to the administration of Yanukovych, and returned back to the square.

The demonstrators apparently delayed their original ultimatum that demanded Yanukovych veto the legislation by Monday. The president has two weeks to either sign or to veto the legislation.

“The tent camp will stay here until the veto is applied,” Volodymyr Dorosh, one of leaders of the protest, said Monday. He said the protest will expand with “powerful actions” in Kiev and throughout other Ukrainian regions.

Yanukovych on Monday was in Brussels meeting leaders of the European Union at a summit with European leaders stressing on the need to maintain and promote democracy in Ukraine.

The small business owners protest against the tax legislation that seeks to cut taxes on corporations, but at the same time increases tax pressure on small businesses.

The legislation, known as the Tax Code, is expected to result in a million people, such as cab drivers and small retail outlet owners, to lose their jobs, according to estimate by opposition lawmakers.

Meanwhile, the government is under pressure to implement the new tax legislation as demanded by the International Monetary Fund, which believes the government needs more revenue to cover budget deficit.

Ukraine depends on $1.5 billion in lending from the IMF before the end of the year in order to meet its budget obligations and to maintain financial stability.

“If the president does not sign the Tax Code, I don’t know what will happen to the country,” Mykhaylo Brodskiy, the head of the state committee on small businesses, said Monday. “I am almost convinced the president will sign it. There is no other way.”

The protesters accuse the government of protecting the status quo when payoffs to corrupt bureaucrats take a lion’s share of small business’s budgets, and - with further increase in taxes - their future operations will be unprofitable.

“Yanukovych is the head of a party of the wealthiest people in Ukraine that don’t pay taxes because their money have been withdrawn to off-shore areas,” Yuriy Lutsenko, a former interior minister and now a leader of an opposition party, said addressing the protesters.

Meanwhile, the protesters began campaigning on Monday to seek early dismissal of Parliament, and major opposition parties have agreed to join the campaign throughout Ukraine.

Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister and the leader of the Batkivshchyna party, said the protesters need to collect 3 million signatures from the people in Ukraine to initiate a referendum. She said the actual response will be much greater.

“If we begin this process clearly and openly and in an orderly fashion, at least half a country will sign the papers,” Tymoshenko said addressing the rally. “All our team will join the process throughout cities, districts and regions.”

“If tens of millions of people put their signatures for the early elections of the president and Parliament, who will be able to keep their posts? Nobody! This is impossible!”

The Yanukovych administration indicated on Monday that the president may meet the protesters after his administration studies the Tax Code and provides its recommendations.

But the District Court of Kiev that is believed to be controlled by the authorities on Monday ruled that the rally is illegal in the downtown area in Kiev between Monday and Friday.

The Kiev city administration, which is also controlled by Yanukovych, explained the rally should be removed because several foreign delegations are visiting Ukraine, but had declined to provide specifics.

The ruling may provoke police to storm the tent camp in the morning on Tuesday in order to stop the rally, some protesters said.

Some opposition lawmakers decided to stay with the protesters through the night to make sure that police does not take action against the demonstrators.

At least one television station, TVi, which had been earlier this year attacked by a lawsuit from a media empire owned by Valeriy Khoroshkovskiy, the chief of the security service SBU, began live broadcast of the rally late Monday. The broadcast, however, was delayed for hours after a sudden loss of power supplies at the television station.

“We are going to stay here all night,” one protester said. “We are not going to retreat.” (tl/ez)