Kyrgyzstan protests spread to capital, Bishkek

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

Opposition supporters are staging demonstrations in Kyrgyzstan to protest against rising fuel prices and what they see as official corruption.

Police in the capital, Bishkek, fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of protesters outside the main opposition headquarters, reports say.

The unrest comes a day after thousands of people stormed government offices in the north-west city of Talas.

They were calling for the resignation of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8606504.stm

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EU shares doubts about Kyrgyzstan elections

EU shares doubts about Kyrgyzstan electionsStockholm - The Swedish presidency of the European Union Friday said it shared concerns about the fairness of the presidential election in Kyrgyzstan that were raised by international election monitors.

Echoing the views raised by the election monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the EU statement said the "presidential elections failed to meet key OSCE commitments for democratic elections, including the commitment to maintain a clear separation between the ruling party and the state."

The EU statement was issued by Sweden, which July 1 assumed the rotating presidency of the 27-nation bloc.

Concerns included "evidence of ballot box stuffing, inaccuracies in the voter lists and some evidence of multiple voting," the statement said about Thursday's voting.

http://www.topnews.in/eu-shares-doubts-about-kyrgyzstan-elections-2193282

[Soylent Brice]

1. aren't they trying to join the EU also?

[dipsydoodle]

2. Don't think so.

I'm waiting for Cuba to join us. :)

[Soylent Brice]

3. lol

[dipsydoodle]

5. That wasn't joke !

Be great if they joined the EU. They prefer Euros to US$'s anyway and its been a favoured holiday location for Europeans for years - my son uses it like the family used Spain back in the '70s/'80s. It's really only some dumwads in the USA which are anti Cuba.

[Soylent Brice]

7. oh. i didn't think it was possible.

[Posteritatis]

8. No. (nt)

[dipsydoodle]

4. Interior Minister shot dead in capital ,

17 protestors dead and 180 wounded. Earlier reports stated Interior Minister was actually beaten to death by a mob.

Later link here : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8607324.stm

[dipsydoodle]

6. government has now resigned but there is no official confirmation.

The government in Kyrgyzstan is struggling to retain power as deadly clashes escalate between police and thousands of protesters.

>

A key opposition leader has said the government has now resigned but there is no official confirmation.

The leader, Temir Sariyev, said Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov had signed a letter of resignation and that Mr Bakiyev had left Bishkek.

update of : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8607324.stm

[CLANG]

9. Kyrgyzstan Protests: Opposition Claims Control, At Least 40 People Killed

Source: AP via Huffington Post

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Thousands of protesters furious over corruption and spiraling utility bills seized internal security headquarters, a state TV channel and other levers of power in Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday after government forces fatally shot dozens of demonstrators and wounded hundreds.

A revolution in the Central Asian nation was proclaimed by leaders of the opposition, who have called for the closure of a U.S. air base outside the capital that serves as a key transit point for supplies essential to the war in nearby Afghanistan.

The U.S. State Department said transport operations at the Manas base were "functioning normally."

This mountainous former Soviet republic erupted when protesters called onto the streets by opposition parties for a day of protest began storming government buildings in the capital, Bishkek, and clashed with police. Groups of elite officers opened fire.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/07/police-open-fire-on-oppos_n_528172.html?igoogle=1

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Kyrgyzstan has been toppled? Doesn't sound good...

[Ghost Dog]

10. Reports avoiding some potential AP 'bias':

"Large-scale protests appear to have overthrown the government of Kyrgyzstan, an important American ally in Central Asia," The New York Times is reporting.

Russia's RT news agency writes that Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev "has fled" the capital, Bishkek.

Reuters reports that "the Kyrgyz government agreed on Wednesday to resign and President Kurmanbek Bakiyev flew to the southern city of Osh," according to a senior opposition party official.

...

As we reported earlier, demonstrators were protesting government corruption and increases in power prices today when things turned violent after police tried to disperse them. Opposition leaders claim as many as 100 people died in clashes with authorities. The government has put the death toll as high as 40.

NPR's David Greene noted earlier today that the former Soviet Republic is "strategically important to Russia and the U.S. Each nation has a military base in the country. The U.S. uses its to support the war effort in Afghanistan," which is to the south (with Tajikistan in between).

/... http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/04/kyrgyzstan_leader_flees_protes.html?ft=1&f=1001


Kyrgyz opposition says it has taken power
Wed Apr 7, 2010 7:36pm BST

BISHKEK (Reuters) - The Kyrgyz opposition said on Wednesday it had forced the Central Asian country's government to resign after troops shot at protesters besieging government buildings, killing dozens.

"We have reached an agreement that the government will resign. That has not been signed on paper yet," Galina Skripkina, a senior official in the opposition Social-Democratic Party and member of parliament, told Reuters.

President Kurmanbek Bakiyev had flown to the southern city of Osh. "Bakiyev has taken a plane from Bishkek to Osh and he has already landed there," she said.

"The opposition is in full control of power," an opposition leader, Roza Otunbayeva, said, Russian news agency RIA reported earlier.

The announcement followed a day of violent clashes in Bishkek and other towns. Spokesmen for the government and the president were not available for comment.

Another opposition leader, Temir Sariyev, said the opposition had entered the government building in central Bishkek and Kyrgyz Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov had written a resignation statement, RIA reported.

"Bakiyev has left the White House ... He is no longer in Bishkek," said Sariyev, who was arrested on his arrival on a flight from Moscow on Wednesday, but later freed by the protest.

Bakiyev himself came to power after 2005 protests which ousted Kyrgyzstan's first post-Soviet President Askar Akayev. Both men were accused by their opponents of concentrating power in the hands of their associates.

Political unrest over poverty, rising prices and corruption has gripped Kyrgyzstan since early March. About a third of the population live below the poverty line and remittances from workers in Russia have fallen during the global economic crisis.

The opposition said at least 100 people had been killed on Wednesday in clashes that have spread since last month across the ex-Soviet Central Asian country that hosts a U.S. military air base supporting troops in Afghanistan, and a Russian base.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin earlier denied Russia -- a major donor to Kyrgyzstan along with Washington and neighbouring China -- had played a hand in the clashes.

"Neither Russia, nor your humble servant, nor Russian officials have any links whatsoever to these events," Putin was quoted as saying by RIA news agency.

/... http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6363E020100407?sp=true

[Jefferson23]

11. Radio Free Europe:

Kyrgyz President Flees Capital, Opposition Claims Power

WATCH: Deadly clashes between thousands of antigovernment protesters and security forces have left at least 40 people dead and 400 wounded. (Warning: Some graphic images, video: Reuters)

BISHKEK (RFE/RL) -- Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev has fled the capital and opposition leaders say the government has resigned after clashes between protesters and the police left at least 40 people dead.


RFE/RL has confirmed that Bakiev, who had not been seen or heard from since anti-government protests began yesterday in the northwest of the country. Opposition leaders say Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov has handed in his resignation.


Kyrgyz opposition leader Temir Sariev said a new government is being formed, headed by former foreign minister Rosa Otunbayeva.

The dramatic developments follows a day of chaos and clashes in the capital, which saw protesters clash with security forces outside the presidential palace. After a crowd took control of the state TV building, opposition leader Omurbek Tekebaev went on state television to demand that the government step down.


Tekebaev said the opposition planned to form an interim government.

Calls For Restraint


The latest official death toll of 40 comes from the country's Health Ministry, which also says 400 people have been wounded. That figure was contradicted by opposition activist Toktoim Umetalieva, who said at least 100 people died after police fired live ammunition at a crowd.


UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed shock at the loss of life.


In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the United States was monitoring developments and expressed its support for the "the Kyrgyz Republic and people of Kyrgyzistan." He said the United States had not received confirmation that the opposition had seized power.



An injured protester is carried off.EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also voiced concern about the violence, and each called for restraint.


The chaos follows weeks of tension between the opposition and the government led by Bakiev, who opponents says has cracked down on independent media and fostered corruption.

Bakiev came to power after the People's, or "Tulip" Revolution in March 2005 that ousted longtime President Askar Akaev, who many accused of consolidating power for himself and helping friends and family members get government posts.

In the capital today, RFE/RL correspondents reported seeing demonstrators seize the country's parliament building and entering the Prosecutor-General's office, where they burned files and set fire to the building.


Protesters also attacked the National Security Committee's headquarters but didn't gain entry.


Coverage From RFE/RL's Kyrgyz ServiceProtests Spread Across The Country

In the northwestern city of Talas today -- scene of Tuesday's unrest -- RFE/RL's correspondent reported seeing Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongantiev and Governor Beishen Bolotbekov being beaten up outside the local police station by protesters who also seized that building. Reports that he had died of his injuries were dismissed as untrue.


remainder in full: http://www.rferl.org/content/Opposition_Protesters_March_Across_Kyrgyzstan/2004868.html

[Jefferson23]

12. In Kyrgyzstan the Tulips Turn Blood Red

By Scott Horton

The tulips are pushing up, so it must be time for more political tremors in the home of the “Tulip Revolution,” the mountainous Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan. Yesterday demonstrators tried to storm government buildings in the remote administrative center of Talas, and today protest actions swept across the country’s north. Here’s a summary of the latest developments in the Guardian:

At least 180 people in Kyrgyzstan have been wounded and 17 killed in clashes between riot police and anti-government demonstrators. Police opened fire when thousands of protesters tried to storm the main government building in the capital Bishkek and overthrow the regime. Reporters saw bodies lying in the main square outside the office of Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the central Asian republic’s president, and opposition leaders said that at least 17 people were killed in the violence.

Bakiyev declared a state of emergency, as riot police firing tear gas and flash grenades beat back the crowds. There were also unconfirmed reports that the country’s interior minister had been beaten by an angry mob. Opposition activist Shamil Murat told Associated Press that he saw the dead body of minister Moldomusa Kongatiyev in a government building in the western town of Talas. Murat said the protesters beat up Kongatiyev and forced him to order his subordinates in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek to stop a crackdown on an opposition rally there. The protests, which began last week in several Kyrgyz provincial cities, erupted today in Bishkek when around 200 people gathered outside the offices of the main opposition parties.

Demonstrators dodged attempts by police to stop them and marched towards the centre of the city, reports said. The crowd, armed with iron bars and stones, then tried to seize the main government building using an armoured vehicle. Several shots rang out from the building, the White House. Opposition activists also took over the state TV channel, broadcasting speeches in support of the uprising.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2010/04/hbc-90006837