Ukraine leader, defying West, signs laws against protests

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By Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich on Friday signed into force a set of tough new laws that would ban virtually all forms of anti-government protests despite an outcry from Western governments which have criticized them as anti-democratic. The presidential website listed the laws, which were rushed through parliament by Yanukovich's supporters on Thursday. Yanukovich triggered major pro-Europe rallies in the former Soviet republic when he walked away from signing a landmark free trade deal with the European Union in late November in favor of closer economic ties with Russia, Ukraine's Soviet-era overlord. Several hundred protesters are still camped out in the main Independence Square and on the city's main thoroughfare.




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