Thousands of supporters of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko have taken to the streets of Ukraine's capital while European envoys prepare to fly in to try to resolve the crisis over a contested election. Witnesses on Friday said there was early tension near the presidential building in Kiev where thousands of demonstrators faced special forces ringing the building, but this later subsided. Thousands of others, chanting "Yu-shchen-ko!" and carrying banners denouncing Moscow-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich and outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, massed near parliament and government buildings following a call on Thursday by Yushchenko aides to blockade them. Socialist leader Oleksander Moroz, a Yushchenko ally who was on the spot, said, "Victory began yesterday", adding that some members of the police were switching sides to give support to the demonstrators. **Meetings planned*** The EU envoys were flying into the capital to try to resolve the crisis triggered by Yushchenko's campaign to overturn presidential election results he says are fraudulent. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski were to meet the principal figures in the standoff. Jan Kubis, secretary-general of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, was also expected. Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus is also due in Ukraine after being asked by Kuchma to help mediate. **'Only the beginning'*** Yushchenko's camp got a boost on Thursday after the Supreme Court put off the inauguration of Yanukovich. "This is only the beginning," Yushchenko told a crowd surging into Kiev's Independence Square for the fourth straight day. "It is proof that it is society that always wins. It is small compensation for the suffering that we have endured." He and his allies were to devise a strategy to push ahead with a national strike, including a blockade of big roads. Yushchenko has vowed to remain in the square with his supporters until the election result is overturned. **PHOTO CAPTION*** European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.