Kyrgyz opposition struggle to control supporters
 |  People dance celebrating after storming government headquarters. |
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 Protesters take over Kyrgyzstan government headquarters.
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BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) -- Shattered glass littered the floors, furniture and portraits of the president tumbled out the windows, and the young men who seized Kyrgyzstan's government headquarters Thursday took a break to divvy up packages of crackers they'd ripped out of a carton.
"It's the people who have taken power," said Ulan Shambetov, an opposition activist sitting in longtime President Askar Akayev's office chair, surrounded by supporters. "They have been fighting for so long against corruption, against that (Akayev) family," Shambetov said.
Opposition politicians pleaded in vain with the youths to stop smashing furniture and looting supplies they found in government offices and in a small pharmacy inside the building.
"It's the victory of the people. But now we don't know how to stop these young guys," said Noman Akabayev, who ran unsuccessfully in this year's disputed parliamentary elections, which sparked the unrest that has shaken this Central Asian nation of 5 million people to its roots.
The government's authority crumbled in the south over the past week, and on Thursday the opposition concentrated its forces on the capital. A rally that began with some 1,000 people picked up strength as demonstrators marched to the government compound.
Some carried yellow narcissus or stuck the flowers in breast pockets as a symbol of their peaceful ambitions -- a message reinforced earlier in the day by a procession of children wearing pink and yellow ribbons around their heads, signifying two strands of the opposition.
After the presidential headquarters was seized, a few young men raced up and down the square outside the compound on horseback, bright flags flapping behind them.
The demonstrators were unarmed, and riot police appeared to be equipped only with truncheons and shields -- not firearms.
Men in plainclothes, wearing armbands in the blue color of Akayev's supporters and beating truncheons against wooden shields, suddenly charged the crowd and pushed it back after a melee in which they threw stones at protesters who retaliated in kind. The crowd surged back, regaining control of a square next to the government building.
Some protesters broke off stone slabs from the square that were later used to smash windows in the government building.
After the confrontation on the square, about 1,000 protesters pushed their way through the rings of riot police guarding the seat of government power, surging in several waves. Within minutes, hundreds were inside -- exulting and rampaging.
After the rampage, fire hoses lay strewn across the floors, torn from their cases. Office furniture was broken, and telephones were smashed and ripped out of walls. A small room with archives was ransacked, with files and piles of paper across the floor.
There were telltale signs that officials had left in a hurry: teacups with tea bags inside them sat on desks.
Opposition activists eventually forced the marauders out, appointing patrols and stationing guards at the doors to check people for booty. One protester-turned-guard scanned people with a handheld metal detector, such as those used at airport security checks.
Copyright 2005 The
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