Mon 21 Mar 2005
Democracy protesters challenge Kyrgyzstan vote rigging CHRIS STEPHEN OPPOSITION supporters in Kyrgyzstan attacked and burned a police station and seized several public buildings yesterday in protest against disputed elections. A crowd of more than 10,000 pro-democracy protesters stormed the police station in the provincial city of Jalalabad, forcing officers on to the roof, before setting it ablaze. The attacks cap a week of escalating demonstrations following 13 March elections which the opposition and international monitors described as fraudulent. Last night opposition supporters were in control of five government buildings in Jalalabad after security forces fled the city. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which described the elections as flawed, has appealed to both sides for calm. Protesters accuse President Askar Akayev’s party of using massive fraud to ensure victory in the elections. Fighting first broke out on Saturday when riot police stormed the headquarters of the city’s governor, captured earlier in the week by opposition supporters, and made 20 arrests. Police also stormed a building occupied by the opposition in the nearby town of Osht. Here, more than 200 were arrested, many of whom had been living in a tented compound in the town centre, built as a permanent protest. But the government appears to have miscalculated opposition support. By Saturday night thousands were on the streets of both towns, and protesters gathered in the capital, Bishtek. Crowds surrounded the police headquarters early yesterday morning, breaking into the building. The prisoners arrested the day before were set free and offices set on fire with petrol bombs. The police ran to the roof, firing shots in the air to keep the crowd away. A truce was then negotiated, during which the police were allowed to leave the roof, before the building was burned down. There were no reports of casualties, but the protests then moved to the mayor’s headquarters. Troops were deployed to guard the building, but they fled without opening fire, and protesters captured this building. By late last night it appeared that opposition supporters were in control of the town, with police and army units leaving the city. The government offered to convene talks with the demonstrators, but Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the opposition leader, last night said these would be a "waste of time" unless the president himself was involved. "The authorities’ decision to use force against people won’t bring any good. It will just provoke anger," he said. So far the clashes have been bloodless, and opposition supporters have labelled their protests the Pink Revolution, after the colour of their campaign. They hope to follow the success of the pro-democracy groups in December’s Orange Revolution in Ukraine. Kyrgyzstan has a history of political violence. Several demonstrators were shot dead by police three years ago. The 13 March election produced a two-third’s majority of MPs loyal to Mr Akayev. They included his son and daughter, both of whom were elected as loyalist MPs. But the OSCE and the American embassy said there was evidence of widespread irregularities both in the counting and through pro-government domination of the media. Kyrgyzstan is the smallest of a clutch of Central Asian republics which won independence when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. Mr Akayev has been accused by the opposition of using dictatorial methods to keep power. The country is a potential east-west flashpoint because it contains air bases of both the United States and Russia. The US set up its base following the World Trade Centre attacks, and uses it to supply troops in Iraq and the Far East. This article: http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=301442005 |