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Las Vegas SUN

March 26, 2005

# Kyrgyzstan Surveys Damage From Looting

By MARA D. BELLABY
ASSOCIATED PRESS

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) -

Sultan Alymkulov was toiling through one of his busiest Saturdays, positioning an iron grate over an Internet cafe's window and firing up his torch in his second job of the day. Business is booming for the 33-year-old welder as shop owners rush to protect their investments after two nights of looting followed the ouster of Kyrgyzstan's longtime President Askar Akayev.

Bishkek's looted and boarded-up main avenue, Prospekt Chui, left most Kyrgyz shaking their heads, but not ready to give up hope that the toppling of an unpopular leader would still usher in a brighter future.

"What happened here showed that we can be strong and decisive and stand up for our rights," the welder said. "The destruction and damage - that is not a consequence of the revolution but of the government we've been living with for 15 years."

The fall of Akayev's government came swiftly Thursday, after weeks of intensifying protests in the south, propelled by widespread anger over the parliamentary elections. A swelling crowd in Bishkek marched to the central square, and hundreds stormed the government headquarters, overcoming riot police who put up little resistance.

Opposition supporters celebrated, waving flags from the windows and taking turns sitting in Akayev's chair. But they also ransacked the building, and rowdy crowds later moved on to nearby stores - smashing windows and carrying off everything from refrigerators to fur coats.

"I admire this revolution, but look around you and see some mistakes have already been made," said Asad Kenderbayev, 19. "I hope it will bring progress and that the situation will get better for us. But, right now, the new power has to keep order."

Calm began returning to the capital Saturday afternoon, as Kyrgyz ventured out to survey the damage and enjoy the warm spring weather. Produce markets that had been shuttered for two days reopened, as did some stores.

Lena Omurzakova, a clerk at a drugstore kiosk, took extra precautions: emptying the shelves and moving all the bottles of shampoo and bars of soap onto the floor, as far away from the windows and potential looters as possible.

The main department store, TsUM, posted "No stock. Closed" signs over its doors. Young men wearing red armbands patrolled behind a makeshift barricade - but there was little to tempt even window-shoppers. All visible shelves and racks were bare, and some of the windows were punctured by stone-sized holes.

Further along the road, a line of Kyrgyz formed outside the looted Beta Stores shopping center to snap pictures near a torn felt portrait of Akayev, lying discarded on a heap of garbage.

"I don't understand what is happening. This isn't a revolution; this is vandalism," said a woman who would only identify herself by her age, 70, as she stood near Beta Stores, looking at the empty and shattered hulk of what was once the pride of Bishkek: its first Western-style shopping center, personally opened by Akayev.

Martbubu Jumakanova, 48, however, surveyed the broken mannequins littering the sidewalk and called it justice. "The people took back what was theirs," said Jumakanova, who said she was a cousin of opposition leader Felix Kulov, who is now in charge of coordinating law enforcement.

Kulov appeared on a call-in show on state television, with callers asking questions and complaining about the looted stores.

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