MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/. More than 9,000 people have gathered in downtown Kiev to protests against the controversial law effectively stripping the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) of their independent status, the city police said.

"More than 9,000 people are taking part in the rally," the Obshchestvennoye.Novosti news outlet quoted a police spokesman.

Protesters warn that they will organize protests every day if their demands are not heeded.

Similar rallies are being held in Vinnitsa, Dnepr (formerly known as Dnepropetrovsk), Zhitomir, Krivoy Rog, Kropivnitsky (formerly knowns as Kirovograd), Lvov, Nikolayev, Odessa, Poltava, Rovno, Ternopol, Uzhgorod, Kharkov, Khmelnitsky, Chernigov, and Chernovtsy.

Zelensky has long been trying to take the two anti-corruption agencies under control but they had previously managed to stay independent. On June 23, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau brought corruption charges against Alexey Chernyshov, the then Ukrainian deputy prime minister and minister of national unity. Chernyshov is seen as a very influential member of Zelensky’s inner circle, a fact that only escalated tensions. Opposition lawmakers point out that anti-corruption agencies were pushing to bring changes against other Zelensky’s close allies.

On July 21, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) carried out 70 searches of NABU employees, and also raided SAPO. On July 22, Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna, where Zelensky’s party has a majority, passed the law abolishing the independence of the country’s two agencies fighting corruption. Late on Tuesday, about 2,000 Kiev residents took to the streets to protest and demand, among other things, the resignation of Andrey Yermak, head of Zelensky’s office. Rallies were also held in Dnepr, Lvov, Odessa, Poltava, Rovno and Ternopol. However, Zelensky signed the controversial law, which took effect on July 23.