Anti-language law rally reached Russian-speaking Dnipropetrovsk.

More than 100 nationalists and members of the opposition held a rally in Dnipropetrovsk on Friday demanding the annulment of a draft law to allow more extensive use of Russian in Ukraine that was passed by parliament on July 3 but has not been signed into effect by the president.

The "Defend Ukrainian" rally, held near the local opera and ballet theatre, demanded that President Viktor Yanukovych refrain from signing the bill into law and said that the planned legislation was splitting Ukrainian society.

Speakers at the meeting included young poets. One of them, a Ukrainian language and literature teacher, recited poetry in Ukrainian.

The leader of the Dnipropetrovsk region branch of the Our Ukraine opposition party, Viktor Hnoyevy, said Defend Ukrainian rallies would take place in front of the opera and ballet theatre every Friday for an indefinite time. He praised local police for not trying to interfere with events of this kind.

After the rally, participants marched through the city centre to the bank of the Dnieper River.

The rally represented various groups, including the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Ukrainian People's Party, Our Ukraine, Svoboda, and Right Cause.