PROTESTERS were massing when, suddenly, thousands of cell-phones chimed in unison: "Dear subscriber … you are a participant in a mass disturbance". It's real. It just happened in Ukraine.

It's the latest Orwellian move by an increasingly desperate government.

The message was sent by Ukraine's police force. It was delivered as new, draconian legislation was passed to combat the eastern European nation's growing civil uprising.

GALLERY: Blood, sweat and Molotov cocktails. Violence grips Kiev.

It also sent another message: Anonymous protesters are not so anonymous anymore.

And it demonstrates the extraordinary lengths the government is willing to go to in order to intimidate its opponents.

Any person who carries a mobile phone near the city's central square - now a protest encampment - will be put on the regime's hit list. Every phone recorded by relay towers in the area is being marked.

News_Image_File: Across the divide ... An activist speaks to police officers as they block a street in central Kiev. Picture: AP / Sergei GritsAmong the draconian measures introduced this week are:

-Participating in "mass disruptions" will incur 10-15 years imprisonment

-You can be convicted by a court in absentia

-MPs can be arrested during sessions of parliament

-It is forbidden to drive a car in a column larger than five vehicles long.

-It is illegal to set up an unauthorised sound system

-You will be jailed for 15 days if you put up a tent

-Distributing "extremist opinion" will attract a three-year jail term

-Group violation of public orders will land you in the cooler for two years

-The government can disable the internet at will

News_Image_File: Cultural clash ... Ukrainian riot policemen detain a pro-European Union protester following clashes in central Kiev. Picture: AFP / ANATOLII BOIKO

Many are interpreting the moves as a deliberate attempt to incite unrest in order to invoke even more extreme legislation.

Ukrainian cellphone companies are denying they provided location data to the government or sent the text messages. One company suggested a 'pirate' government cellphone tower had been set up in the area to bypass their security.

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News_Image_File: To the barricades ... Opposition supporters move a bus torched by protesters overnight to build a new barricade in central Kiev. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

The message had little effect. Three hours later, riot police officers charged into barricades and clashed with protesters clad in ski masks and bicycle helmets.

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The main protest site is on Kiev's Independence Square, where protesters have set up an extensive tent camp and rallied around the clock since November.

News_Image_File: Storm troopers ... Riot police officers gather as they clash with protestors in the center of Kiev AFP PHOTO/ ANATOLII BOIKO

Oleksandr Turchynov, one of the opposition leaders, called on Ukrainians to rush to the centre of Kiev to defend their country. "Ukraine will not be a dictatorship, it will be an independent, European country. Let us defend Ukraine!''

MORE: Five dead as police turn on protesters in Ukraine

I think we can move past the word *protest* in #Kiev pic.twitter.com/OyFlXdr35V — Michelle (@Michelle9647) January 22, 2014

The mass protests erupted after President Viktor Yanukovych spurned a pact with the European Union in favour of close ties with Russia, which offered him a $15 billion bailout.

They swelled to hundreds of thousands after a small peaceful rally was violently broken up by police.

Seeing the government ignore their demands and opposition leaders unable to present a coherent plan or even select a single leader, radical protesters have continued to clash with riot police.

News_Image_File: Deadly business ... Two people died of gunshot wounds during clashes in Kiev yesterday. But the opposition charges that as many as five people have died. Picture: AP / Sergei Chuzavkov

Opposition leaders in Ukraine are asking protesters to refrain from clashing with police for the next 24 hours, after at least two demonstrators were shot and killed in confrontations with police.

The government's move came on the fourth day of violent street battles between protesters hurling fire bombs and stones and police firing back with tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets. Two bodies were found before police moved to tear down protesters' barricades near official buildings in central Kiev and chased demonstrators away.

News_Image_File: Shield law ... Ukrainian police have been exempted from prosecution for any action they take against protesters. Here a police officer aims his shotgun during clashes with protesters in central Kiev. Picture: AP / Efrem Lukatsky

Helmeted riot police moved in on hundreds of protesters, dismantling the barricades, beating many with truncheons and firing shots at some. One man was seen to be attacked by over a dozen policemen, was made to take off his winter jacket and dragged away, where he was beaten again. Dark smoke from burning tyres billowed in the air and an armoured vehicle was seen near police lines.

News_Rich_Media: Unrest in Kiev enters fourth day as protesters pelt police cordons with stones and Molotov cocktails, and police retaliate with flash grenades and rubber bullets. Courtesy: My News

Russia's foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, blamed politicians from the European Union and the United States for encouraging the fighting over the past three days. The situation in the city, he warned, was "getting out of control."

News_Image_File: Tensions flare ... A protester throws a molotov cocktail during clashes with police in central Kiev. Picture: AP / Efrem Lukatsky)

Emerging after three hours of talks with President Viktor Yaanukovych on Wednesday evening, opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk said he gave the president until the following evening either to move to ease the political crisis or face popular rage.

"Tomorrow we will go forward together,'' Yatsenyuk told a crowd of tens of thousands of demonstrators. "And if it's a bullet in the forehead, then it's a bullet in the forehead, but in an honest, fair and brave way.''

News_Image_File: Head of UDAR (Punch) political party and a leader of the Ukrainian opposition Vitalii Klitschko speaks during a mass rally on Independence Square in Kiev. Picture: AFP / ANATOLIY STEPANOV

The protests were the biggest since the peaceful 2004 Orange Revolution, which annulled Yanukovych's fraud-tinged victory in a presidential vote and forced a new vote that brought his pro-Western rival to power. The current protests were also largely peaceful for nearly two months, but turned violent after Yanukovych, elected in 2010, pushed through sweeping anti-protest legislation and ignored all the protesters' demands.

The deaths mark a turning point in the stand-off that could lead to more violence.

News_Image_File: The heat is on ... Protesters throw tyres in a fire as they clash with police in central Kiev. City health officials and police said that two people died of gunshot wounds during the clashes Wednesday morning. Picture: AP / Efrem Lukatsky)

Prosecutors say two people died of gunshot wounds at the site of the clashes in Kiev on Wednesday, but the opposition says five people have died.

Prosecutors said the two men were shot with live ammunition, and have opened a criminal investigation to determine who was responsible.

Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said the police did not have live ammunition and charged that opposition leaders should be held responsible for the deaths.

News_Module: NND MultPromo Big Brother Watching

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