Anti-govt protests sweep Kyrgyzstan, 17 said dead

[[R_H]]

AP

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan – Anti-government unrest rocked the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday as thousands of protesters stormed the main government building, set fire to the prosecutor's office and looted state TV headquarters. At least 17 people were killed and at least 180 wounded in clashes, the government said.
The opposition took over state television and announced that it was negotiating with the president and demanding he step down. Government officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the claim.
The eruption of violence shattered the relative stability of this mountainous former Soviet nation, which houses a U.S. military base that is a key supply center in the fight against the Taliban in nearby Afghanistan.
Furious over government corruption and a recent hike in power prices, demonstrators looted the state television and radio building. Elite police opened fire to drive crowds back from government headquarters. Protesters marched toward the Interior Ministry in the capital, Bishkek, according to Associated Press reporters on the scene, before changing direction and attacking a national security building nearby. They were repelled by security forces.
Omurbek Tekebayev, the leader of Ata-Meken, the main opposition party, said on television that he wanted every family to adopt the philosophy "freedom or death."
Opposition activist Shamil Murat told the AP that Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongatiyev was beaten to death by a mob in the western town of Talas where the unrest erupted a day ago. The respected Fergana.ru Web site reported later that Kongatiyev was badly beaten but had not died, saying its own reporter had witnessed the beating.
Dozens of wounded demonstrators lined the corridors of one of Bishkek's main hospitals, a block away from the main square, where doctors were unable to cope with the flood of patients. Weeping nurses slumped over dead bodies, doctors shouted at each other and the floors were covered in blood.
Health Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Bayalinova said 180 people were hurt in the clashes Wednesday, without elaborating. Opposition activist Toktoim Umetalieva said 17 people died after police opened fire with live ammunition. The number of dead was confirmed by another government health official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
The unrest began Tuesday in the western city of Talas, where demonstrators stormed a government office and held a governor hostage, prompting a government warning of "severe" repercussions for continuing unrest.
The opposition called nationwide protests for Wednesday, vowing to defy increasingly authoritarian President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
Since coming to power in 2005 on a wave of street protests known as the Tulip Revolution, Bakiyev has ensured a measure of stability, but many observers say he has done so at the expense of democratic standards while enriching himself and his family.
Over the past two years, Kyrgyz authorities have clamped down on free media, and opposition activists say they have routinely been subjected to physical intimidation and targeted by politically motivated criminal investigations. Many of the opposition leaders once were allies of Bakiyev.
Anti-government forces have been in disarray until recently, but widespread anger over a 200 percent hike in electricity and heating gas bills has galvanized the fractious opposition.
Police in Bishkek at first used rubber bullets, tear gas, water cannons and concussion grenades Wednesday to try to control crowds of young men clad in black who were chasing police officers, beating them up and seizing their arms, trucks and armored personnel carriers.
Some protesters then tried to use a personnel carrier to ram the gates of the government headquarters, known as the White House. Many of the protesters threw rocks, but about a half dozen young protesters shot Kalashnikovs into the air from the square in front of the building.
"We don't want this rotten power!" protester Makhsat Talbadyev said, as he and others in Bishkek waved opposition party flags and chanted: "Bakiyev out!"
Some 200 elite police began firing, pushing the crowd back from the government headquarters. The president was not seen in public Wednesday and his whereabouts were unclear.
Protesters set fire to the prosecutor general's office in the city center, and a giant plume of black smoke billowed into the sky.
Groups of protesters then set out across Bishkek. Some seized the state television and radio building, and were looting; others marched toward the Interior Ministry, which oversees the former Soviet republic's police force.
At least 10 opposition leaders were arrested overnight and were being held at the security headquarters in Bishkek, opposition lawmaker Irina Karamushkina said.
One of them, Temir Sariyev, was freed Wednesday by protesters.
The prime minister, meanwhile, accused the opposition of provoking the violence in the country of 5 million people.
"What kind of opposition is this? They are just bandits," Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov said.
Unrest also broke out for a second day in the western town of Talas and spread to the southern city of Naryn.
Some 5,000 protesters seized Naryn's regional administration building and installed a new governor, opposition activist Adilet Eshenov said. At least four people were wounded in clashes, including the regional police chief, he said.
Another 10,000 protesters stormed police headquarters Wednesday in Talas, where on Tuesday protesters had held the regional governor hostage in his office.
The protesters beat up the interior minister, Kongatiyev, and forced him to call his subordinates in Bishkek and call off the crackdown on protesters, a correspondent for the local affiliate of U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said.
Witnesses said the crowd in Talas looted police headquarters Wednesday, removing computers and furniture. Dozens of police officers left the building and mingled with protesters.
In the eastern region of Issyk-Kul, protesters seized the regional administration building and declared they installed their governor, the Ata-Meken opposition party said on its Web site.
Hundreds of protesters overran the government building Tuesday on Talas' main square. They were initially dispersed by baton-wielding police, but then fought through tear gas and flash grenades to regroup, burning police cars and hurling stones and Molotov cocktails.
Usenov said Tuesday's violence in Talas had left 85 officers injured and 15 unaccounted for.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who met with Bakiyev in Kyrgyzstan on Sunday, arrived in Moscow on Wednesday at the end of a trip to several Central Asian nations.
"The secretary-general is shocked by the reported deaths and injuries that have occurred today in Kyrgyzstan," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said. "He once again calls on all concerned to show restraint. He urgently appeals for dialogue and calm to avoid further bloodshed."

Kyrgyzstan in crisis as clashes escalate (BBC)

Seventeen people have been killed and more than 100 injured in escalating clashes between protesters and police in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
Protesters attacked President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's offices and stormed the state TV and radio headquarters, taking them briefly off air.
There are reports police fired live rounds after failing to disperse people with tear gas and stun grenades.
President Bakiyev has declared a state of emergency in protest-hit areas.
The protesters are angry at rising energy prices and accuse President Bakiyev of failing to tackle corruption.There are fears that the death toll could rise.
Kyrgyzstan, a strategically important Central Asian state, houses a key US military base that supplies forces in Afghanistan. Russia also has a base there.
The US embassy in Bishkek and Russia have both expressed concern and called for restraint.
A spokesman for Ban Ki-moon said the UN secretary general was "shocked by the reported deaths and injuries that have occurred today in Kyrgyzstan. He urgently appeals for dialogue and calm to avoid further bloodshed".
The unrest broke out in the provincial town of Talas on Tuesday and spread to Bishkek and another town, Naryn, on Wednesday. All three are now under curfew.
Ilyas Amadiyarov, a student in Talas, told the BBC World Service by telephone that protesters there had broken through a line of police, scattering them. He could still hear gunfire which appeared to be coming from the security forces. His account cannot be verified independently.The student said at least 4,000 people were involved in the protest in Talas, some of them coming in by car from surrounding villages.
Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongatiyev, who was believed to have gone to the town to calm the situation, was reportedly severely beaten. The extent of his injuries have not been confirmed.
Bloodstains
In Bishkek, protesters attempted to storm the president's office but were held back by security forces, who reportedly fired live rounds into the crowd.
The health ministry and an opposition leader said 17 people had been killed.The minister of health said 180 people had been injured, but did not say how many were police or protesters.
State media and television went off air briefly after protesters stormed their offices but resumed broadcasting under government control.
One group of protesters arrived in the capital in an armoured personnel carrier.
The protesters in Bishkek appeared to be leaderless, says the BBC's Rayhan Demytrie in the capital, after a number of opposition heads were arrested overnight.
Earlier, police had used tear gas and stun grenades to break up crowds outside an opposition headquarters but the protesters overcame the police and marched to the presidential offices in the city centre.
Police cars have been overturned and set alight and officers attacked by the crowd, some of whom were armed.
Gunfire could be heard crackling through the centre of Bishkek and photographs from the city showed bloodstains on the pavement.

[CJvR]

Saw some video of a firing line of police just emptying their magazines, I suspect 17 will rise sharply...

[Balrog]

Update

Kyrgyz opposition claims control
The opposition in Kyrgyzstan says it is setting up a "people's government" after deadly clashes left dozens dead.

An opposition leader and former foreign minister, Roza Otunbayeva, told the BBC that new defence and interior ministers had been appointed.

The whereabouts of President Bakiyev are not clear but reports say that he has flown out of the capital, Bishkek.

Protests at rising prices, corruption and the arrest of opposition leaders had erupted in three cities.

Ms Otunbayeva said the interim government would remain in power for six months and draw up a new constitution.

Kyrgyzstan is a strategically important Central Asian state and houses a key US military base that supplies forces in Afghanistan. Russia also has a base there.

Ms Otunbayeva said these military bases could continue as before.

AT THE SCENE
Rayhan Demytrie, BBC News, Bishkek
Stun grenades and live rounds were fired at protesters in Bishkek's main square. The situation was chaotic with protesters attempting to move towards the presidential administration. They were shouting that President Bakiyev must go.

A young protester was shot dead at the scene. His body was lying on a marble pavement and a large crowd was gathering around it. There was anger, lots of it. The protesters attacked riot police with rocks and machetes - some police officers were badly injured.

Men in Kyrgyzstan compare Wednesday's riots to the ones five years ago when mass protests brought President Bakiyev to power. He was the hero of the so-called Tulip Revolution - a politician who many in Kyrgyzstan hoped would bring democratic changes to the country. But today, people are angry and frustrated. The detention of opposition leaders on Tuesday night backfired. Wednesday's protests were uncontrollable.

The United States said it deplored the violence and urged "respect for the rule of law". It also said it believed the government was still in control.

Russian PM Vladimir Putin denied that Moscow had played any role in the unrest, saying it was a "domestic affair" and that there should be "restraint".

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the protests showed the "outrage at the existing regime".

A spokesman for Ban Ki-moon said the UN secretary general was "shocked by the reported deaths and injuries that have occurred today in Kyrgyzstan. He urgently appeals for dialogue and calm to avoid further bloodshed".

Gunfire is continuing into the night in Bishkek with shops set alight.

The BBC's Rayhan Demytrie in Bishkek says there is widespread looting, with hundreds of protesters moving from one store to another.

The Kyrgyz health ministry said 40 people had died in the clashes and more than 400 were injured.

But the opposition says that is far too low. In a broadcast on a TV channel it took over, spokesman Omurbek Tekebayev said at least 100 demonstrators had been killed.

The opposition used its channel to say that it was setting up a government that would be headed by former foreign minister, Rosa Otunbayeva.

Ms Otunbayeva said in a broadcast: "Power is now in the hands of the people's government. Responsible people have been appointed and are already working to normalise the situation."

The Associated Press news agency reported that an opposition leader had taken over the National Security Agency, the successor to the Soviet KGB.

But Galina Skripkina, of the opposition Social-Democratic Party, told Reuters news agency that the president had not yet resigned.

"He must... formally submit his resignation to parliament so we can appoint a caretaker government," she said.

Reuters also quoted the Kyrgyz border control as saying the frontier with Kazakhstan had been closed.

Agence France-Presse says the US has suspended military flights at its base in Kyrgyzstan.

Curfews

The whereabouts of the president remain unknown. Opposition figures said he had flown out of Bishkek and had landed in the southern city of Osh.

KYRGYZSTAN FACTS
One of the poorest of the former Soviet states
Hosts both US and Russian military air bases
Population mostly Kyrgyz but 15% are Uzbek and a significant number of Russians live in the north and around the capital
Kurmanbek Bakiyev has been president since the Tulip Revolution of 2005, which overthrew the government of Askar Akayev
Mr Bakiyev vowed to restore stability but has been accused of failing to tackle corruption
Opponents also complain he has installed relatives in key government posts
Domestic media have come under increasing pressure from the government in recent months

Mr Bakiyev came to power amid a wave of street protests in 2005 known as the Tulip Revolution, but many of his allies have deserted him claiming intimidation and corruption.

The unrest had broken out in the provincial town of Talas on Tuesday and spread to Bishkek and another town, Naryn, on Wednesday. All three were put under curfew.

Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongatiyev, who was believed to have gone to Talas to calm the situation, was reportedly severely beaten.

Some reports said he had been killed by the mob, others that he was taken hostage, but there is no confirmation of his fate.

The violence may also have been exacerbated by the arrest of several opposition leaders, including Temir Sariyev, who was detained after arriving on a flight from Moscow on Wednesday. He was freed by protesters on Wednesday.

Police in Bishkek initially used tear gas and stun grenades to try to disperse protesters.

But the demonstrators overcame the police and marched to the presidential offices in the city centre.

Police cars were overturned and set alight and officers attacked by the crowd.

Gunfire could be heard crackling through the centre of Bishkek. The prosecutor's office was also set alight.

So they say that they won't close the US base in this piece, yet elsewhere one of the demands of the opposition has been for the closure of that base. Supposing they did, how best could the forces in Afghanistan adapt, or would it serve to seriously constrain the war effort?

[ShadowDragon8685]

The United States has a history of forcibly honoring and requiring (at gunpoint) the honoring of leases on land that prior governments, even ones ousted by revoloution, leased to them. See also: Guantanamo Bay naval base.

So it's unlikely that the natives of Kyrgyzstan are going to oust the base until the signed lease is up. Trying to do it by force... Well, hopefully the last decade has been a good object lesson of just what lengths we're willing to go to against people who haven't given us a reason, let alone those who do; even a war-weary American public will get good and fired up for a good wor with a legitimate story of "they attacked us!"

Not even someone to whom we were about as popular as he was to us was crazy enough to try and oust us with force, even with our backs literally between a sea and his potential army. I think it's unlikely that the good people of Kyrgyzstan will try to get rid of us by military force.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

The United States has a history of forcibly honoring and requiring (at gunpoint) the honoring of leases on land that prior governments, even ones ousted by revoloution, leased to them. See also: Guantanamo Bay naval base.

So it's unlikely that the natives of Kyrgyzstan are going to oust the base until the signed lease is up. Trying to do it by force... Well, hopefully the last decade has been a good object lesson of just what lengths we're willing to go to against people who haven't given us a reason, let alone those who do; even a war-weary American public will get good and fired up for a good wor with a legitimate story of "they attacked us!"

Not even someone to whom we were about as popular as he was to us was crazy enough to try and oust us with force, even with our backs literally between a sea and his potential army. I think it's unlikely that the good people of Kyrgyzstan will try to get rid of us by military force.

Kyrgyzstan recently signed a treaty of military cooperation with Russia. The protestors, in opposing the base, are likely pro-Russian as Russia has been quite opposed to US military bases in Central Asia. So they're not some collection of natives by far.

[MKSheppard]

The United States has a history of forcibly honoring and requiring (at gunpoint) the honoring of leases on land that prior governments, even ones ousted by revoloution, leased to them. See also: Guantanamo Bay naval base.

You really are a dumb motherfucker. The lease required us to pay money each year to whoever was in power at the time in Cuba. Since Fidel came to power; we've been paying him, but he hasn't been accepting it; so the money's piled up ever since then.

[Bakustra]

The United States has a history of forcibly honoring and requiring (at gunpoint) the honoring of leases on land that prior governments, even ones ousted by revoloution, leased to them. See also: Guantanamo Bay naval base.

You really are a dumb motherfucker. The lease required us to pay money each year to whoever was in power at the time in Cuba. Since Fidel came to power; we've been paying him, but he hasn't been accepting it; so the money's piled up ever since then.

Was Cuba able to effectively refuse the Platt Amendment? Then, yes, we did force the terms on them, at gunpoint. The fact that we pay them for the lease does not change that we forced them to hand over Guantanamo Bay, and that the lease has not ended despite the repeal of the Platt Amendment. Castro has refused to cash the payments as a protest against the lease. I, personally applaud that.

[Samuel]

It isn't something worth applauding. When someone offers you free money, you take it.

[ShadowDragon8685]

The United States has a history of forcibly honoring and requiring (at gunpoint) the honoring of leases on land that prior governments, even ones ousted by revoloution, leased to them. See also: Guantanamo Bay naval base.

You really are a dumb motherfucker. The lease required us to pay money each year to whoever was in power at the time in Cuba. Since Fidel came to power; we've been paying him, but he hasn't been accepting it; so the money's piled up ever since then.

Exactly how am I a dumb motherfucker, you inbred dog-fucker?

You supported what I said, idiot!

The United States has a history of forcibly honoring(1) and requiring (at gunpoint) the honoring(2) of leases on land that prior governments, even ones ousted by revoloution, leased to them(3). See also: Guantanamo Bay naval base.

The lease required us to pay money each year to whoever was in power at the time in Cuba(1,2). Since Fidel came to power; we've been paying him(3), but he hasn't been accepting it; so the money's piled up ever since then.

1,2: We're forcibly honoring our lease in paying Cuba for Guantanamo Bay, and requiring (at gunpoint) that Cuba honors the lease as well. This they do - even to the point of (as of 2006) still allowing the two elderly workers still interested in working on the base to transit into and out of the base every day.
3: Yes, you fool! We are honoring our part of the deal! We're holding up our end by sending the Cuban government a check worth money each year, and in return we're requiring (at gunpoint) that they continue to honor theirs by not, say, trying to oust us.

Kyrgyzstan recently signed a treaty of military cooperation with Russia. The protestors, in opposing the base, are likely pro-Russian as Russia has been quite opposed to US military bases in Central Asia. So they're not some collection of natives by far.

And Russia is really going to send in it's regular troops to force us out of a base... I think not. No matter how much cock Kyrgyzstan is willing to suck, it in no way, shape, or form, would be remotely worth picking a fight with more or less the one military in the world that can, nukes aside, unquestionably defeat theirs in detail.

To say nothing of the whole "not wanting to start a war with another nuclear power" thing. No, if the good people of Kyrgyzstan want to force us out at the point of a Kalashnikov, they'll be doing it on their own, and they will be very sorry they did.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Kyrgyzstan recently signed a treaty of military cooperation with Russia. The protestors, in opposing the base, are likely pro-Russian as Russia has been quite opposed to US military bases in Central Asia. So they're not some collection of natives by far.

And Russia is really going to send in it's regular troops to force us out of a base... I think not. No matter how much cock Kyrgyzstan is willing to suck, it in no way, shape, or form, would be remotely worth picking a fight with more or less the one military in the world that can, nukes aside, unquestionably defeat theirs in detail.

To say nothing of the whole "not wanting to start a war with another nuclear power" thing. No, if the good people of Kyrgyzstan want to force us out at the point of a Kalashnikov, they'll be doing it on their own, and they will be very sorry they did.

So I see that the little bitch thinks that we would violently intervene in Central Asia to maintain one single waypoint base. It's not like we can park the USN over the coast of Kyrgyzstan, dumbass, there isn't one. They wouldn't send regular troops to do it--FSB and special forces would be quite sufficient to make Kyrgyzstan completely untenable for us. Unless you seriously think that the US is going to start a third war over an air force base that exists only to support one of the other wars? Especially with this President? You'll come out with some hyper-aggressive response, doubtless, that will just make you look even dumber, but the point is that you're basing things entirely off of interventions which happened in the 1920s and 1930s and in the Caribbean where the USA could easily intervene, not Central Asia.

Oh, and two words for you. Subic Bay.

Is it still a US Base?

[K. A. Pital]

Just to add. The Kyrgyz president (doubtlessly a mafiosi thug worthy of being hanged, like most post-Soviet leaders) is now accused of murder and gross criminal misuse of governmental authority. Heh. The Kyrgyz folks are preparing documents for extradiction.

I can't say this is surprising... it's just sad. The state of Central Asia is horrific.

[Big Orange]

Things in Kyrgystan are made more "interesting" by the bubbling ethnic tensions, with "native" Kyrgyz primarily attacking the Turkish minority group (as well as some Russians and Ukranians living there).