KIEV, March 29 – The opposition Regions Party on Friday failed to deliver on its promise to organize massive street protests throughout Ukraine, but pledged its lawmakers would go ahead and block Parliament’s work if the government takes no action to ease the country’s economic crisis.

About 3,000 people turned out for a rally in downtown Kiev, well short of 15,000 that the Regions Party had hoped to summon up, underscoring the lack of potential support for the group.

Bigger crowds turned out for rallies in Donetsk, the Regions stronghold, and some other cities in eastern regions of Ukraine, but still significantly less than an overall of 100,000 that the party had hoped to organize throughout the country.

“It’s like a mountain giving birth to a mouse,” Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said at press conference on Saturday in comments on the opposition rallies. “Zilch. Nothing. Zero.”

But the Regions Party, which controls 175 seats, the largest group in the 450-seat Parliament, promised to take the action by blocking the legislature, a move that could make the government unable to approve any legislation to fight the economic crisis.

“We will force the government either to resign or to introduce a real [anti-crisis] program,” Nestor Shufrych, a member of the Regions Party, said in the Shuster Live television talk show over the weekend.

The Regions Party is well-organized in Parliament and has been able to disrupt the work of Parliament in the past by blocking the podium in the legislature.

Tymoshenko does not control the majority in Parliament and this is one of the reasons why the coalition has not been able to approve a comprehensive anti-crisis program, which is needed for the resumption of lending from the International Monetary Fund.

Meanwhile, Viktor Yanukovych, a former prime minister and the leader of the Regions Party, attacked both, Tymoshenko and President Viktor Yushchenko on Friday, seeking to set a stage for his comeback at the next presidential election in January 2010.

“Today a moment of truth is emerging for our country,” Yanukovych said addressing 3,000 supporters in downtown Kiev on Friday. “This team is ruling the country for the past four years. From this downtown square they have cheated half of Ukraine in 2004. They destroyed the people’s belief in the kindness.”

“These are false democrats that have thought that the people can be humiliated and that our children can be deprived of the future,” Yanukovych said. “Whatever they promised, they have done precisely the opposite.”

“Only after they go, Ukraine will live calmly and the economy will start to grow,” Yanukovych said. “We have a clear and concrete anti-crisis program and are ready to implement it decisively.” (tl/ez)