Representatives of the Batkivschyna, UDAR, and Svoboda oppositional parties are holding a rally in Chernivtsi on Saturday as part of the Rise Ukraine! Campaign.

Some 7,000 people gathered for the march in Chernivtsi, and people kept coming, the press services of the Svoboda and Batkivschyna parties reported. Some 10,000 people came to the Monument to Taras Shevchenko.

Meanwhile, the public relations department of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine in Chernivtsi region estimated the number of protesters in the city center at 1,050 as of noon on Saturday.

The press service of the Svoboda party said that the march was headed by their leader Oleh Tiahnybok and leader of the Batkivschyna faction Arseniy Yatseniuk.

"The aim of our action is the resignation of President [Viktor] Yanukovych, and changes in the country. The aim of our action is to protect the right of residents of Chernivtsi to have their own mayor. We are sure that if a single opposition candidate is nominated for mayor of in Chernivtsi, as well as in the city of Kyiv, the opposition will win," Yatseniuk said before the march.

The opposition earlier announced the start of the Rise, Ukraine! nationwide protest campaign. Within two months, marches and rallies will be held in all regional centers of the country, and the campaign will end with a march in Kyiv.