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He was speaking after police violently dispersed an opposition camp on Saturday. Protesters were set to return to the capital again on Sunday.

Opposition parties are angry Mr Yanukovych refused to sign an EU association agreement and have called for early elections.

But Kiev's authorities say they will ban rallies in the heart of the city.

Ukrainian TV reported that a bid to prevent mass gatherings in Independence Square until next month was granted by a court on Saturday night.

Riot police had stormed the square in the early hours of Saturday when several hundred people were there. At least 31 people were taken into custody and a number of people were treated for injuries.

Kiev police chief Valery Koryak admitted afterwards that the "police did not come out of it looking good," but argued that missiles had been thrown at officers by some demonstrators.

In a statement read out on Ukrainian TV on Saturday night, President Yanukovych demanded an immediate investigation into the violence.

"I am deeply outraged by events that took place on Independence Square overnight. I condemn the actions which led to a confrontation and people's suffering."

He called for those responsible to be brought to account, but did not explicitly blame police. He also insisted that Ukrainians were "united by our choice of our common European future".

Several Western countries condemned the police intervention. US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki condemned "the violence by government authorities against peaceful demonstrators".

Jailed opposition leader and ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko urged Ukrainians "not to leave the authorities' actions unanswered" and preparations were made for a big rally on Sunday at 12:00 (10:00 GMT).

In a message read by her daughter on Saturday, Tymoshenko urged Ukrainians: "Fly, drive, walk to Kiev from all parts of Ukraine, but gather everyone on 1 December."

By Saturday evening demonstrators had regrouped in another square in the city centre, outside St Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery.

Another opposition party leader, Vitaly Klitschko, told people in the square that thousands of supporters were travelling from the western city of Lviv and other Ukrainian cities to take part in Sunday's rally.

Opposition parties say a "national resistance" HQ is to be set up, followed by a nationwide strike.

Members of Ukraine's political opposition had met for emergency talks after the dispersal from Independence Square.

"We have made a joint decision to form a national resistance taskforce and have begun preparing for an all-Ukrainian national strike," former Economy Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told reporters.

"Our demands are the resignation of [Interior Minister Vitali] Zakharchenko, an investigation of his actions and his trial, the resignation of the government and the president and early presidential and parliamentary polls.

"We... are calling on all civic activists, civil society and all those who care about Ukraine's future to fight the Viktor Yanukovych regime together." SHQIP