Posted on 03/20/2005 2:48:40 PM PST by Pikamax
Opposition Protesters Take Over South Kyrgyz City Sun Mar 20, 2005 05:19 PM ET
By Michael Steen DZHALAL ABAD, Kyrgyzstan (Reuters) - Thousands of people stormed government buildings on Sunday and at least four policemen were reported beaten to death as protests against President Askar Akayev swelled in southern Kyrgyzstan.
Akayev, who has run the Central Asian country since it became independent in 1990, warned last week that any attempt to copy the "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine, another ex-Soviet state, could lead to civil war.
The opposition, protesting against what it says were rigged parliamentary elections, effectively seized control of the southern Kyrgyz town of Dzhalal Abad, following protests on Friday in nearby Osh, and in two other regions in the south.
A police source in the capital Bishkek said four policemen had been beaten to death in Dzhalal Abad in clashes that erupted after police fired shots but failed to stop the demonstrators.
The growing protests prompted a call from the United States, which said it was concerned by the violence in Kyrgyzstan, for talks between the government and opposition.
Prime Minister Nikolai Tanayev also said the government wanted a peaceful resolution: "We have never gone against our own people, especially not with weapons in our hands."
The opposition said six of its protesters were injured in the clashes in Dzhalal Abad.
"The police opened fire, and I saw with my own eyes that four people got hit by ricochets," said demonstrator Abdul Kambarov, his cheek cut and trousers ripped.
Dzhumakhan Amadalyeva, a 59-year-old demonstrator, said she was sitting on the staircase of the city's main administration building when special forces tried to storm it.
"I grabbed the legs of one of them as he was running up stairs and another one beat me in the face with a rubber truncheon," said Amadalyeva, her face heavily bruised.
Protesters later surged back into the building. Amateur video showed a police chief asking the crowd to let his forces, mostly inexperienced young men, to leave the scene unharmed. Protesters formed a corridor to let them out but made them leave riot gear behind.
Government buildings were burning and streets were strewn with broken glass -- caused, witnesses said, by protesters throwing petrol bombs to force police to leave the town.
By late evening, drunken youths were roaming the streets and there was no sign of police or troops.
Protests against the results of parliamentary elections, which international observers criticized as flawed and in which the opposition was routed, have largely been confined to the south but have become increasingly bloody.
There is strong resentment in the mostly ethnic-Uzbek south of the mountainous country against the wealthier north, dominated by ethnic Kyrgyz. Osh was the scene of bloody ethnic clashes in the 1980s and 1990s.
WASHINGTON CALLS FOR TALKS
The State Department said Washington was following events in Kyrgyzstan closely and called for talks to seek a peaceful solution. "U.S. officials have been in contact with both the government and the opposition to reinforce this message," it said in a statement.
Prime Minister Tanayev said he had spoken to Asanov and both had agreed to hold talks and try to end the dispute with "civilized methods."
"In the police we have no rubber bullets, no gas. We don't even have enough truncheons. Not the president, not me, and not the interior minister will allow weapons to be used against our own people," he told local television.
The opposition says Akayev could use his majority in parliament, which includes two of his children, to change the law and stand for a third term in elections later this year.
"We want Akayev to understand what's going on. Either he resigns now or he gives us an assurance he will resign in October," said Bektur Asanov, a losing candidate in the poll.
"We have now paralyzed the regional authorities. We are demanding that the Supreme Court makes a decision like it did in Ukraine (where the election result last December was overturned because of fraud)," he said.
Akayev, a physicist seen as the most liberal of the presidents in the five former Soviet republics of Central Asia, has said he will stand down when his final term ends.
Monitors from the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) criticized the parliamentary poll, held in two rounds in February and March -- pointing to vote buying, disqualification of opposition figures and media manipulation.
Kyrgyzstan is the third ex-Soviet state to see protests over election results, following revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia.
Kyrgyzstan borders Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and China. Its 5 million people are Muslims and have mostly lived in poverty since the economy collapsed in the 1990s.
Initial reports are that the demonstrators were protesting a severe vowel shortage.
Good work, keep your eye on this region.
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