The bill was passed in parliament on Thursday with a quick show of hands by MPs loyal to the president, rather than the usual system of electronic voting.
The changes include a ban on unauthorised tents in public areas and criminal responsibility for slandering government officials. The move has sparked uproar among the opposition, who say it is illegal.
They have accused the ruling party of a coup.
The US and several EU countries expressed deep concern over the new bills.
As well as signing into law a series of bills, President Yanukovych also fired his long-time chief of staff, Sergiy Lyovochkin, on Friday.
Mr Lyovochkin was rumoured to have wanted to step down after riot police broke up a rally at the end of November – a move that brought tens of thousands of protesters on to the streets the following day.
In a tweet on Thursday following the events in parliament, EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said he was “profoundly concerned by new legislation limiting freedoms”.
He said the move contradicted Ukraine’s “European aspirations” and its commitments in the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, which President Yanukovych abruptly refused to sign in November, amid Russian economic pressure.
The Ukrainian opposition warned the new measures would further inflame the protest movement, and called for a big gathering in the capital Kiev on Sunday.
Anti-government protesters have been camping out behind extensive barricades in Kiev’s Independence Square – known as the Euromaidan – for nearly two months in the freezing cold.
The mass demonstrations were initially triggered by President Yanukovych’s last-minute rejection of the EU partnership deal.
But the protesters’ demands later widened to include the fight against what they said was widespread government corruption and abuse of power.
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