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Revolution takes hold in Kyrgyzstan
A pro-democracy movement sweeping across the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan secured its first political concession from the country’s president yesterday when he ordered a review of results in recent disputed elections.
As protests hailed by opposition supporters as a "tulip revolution" took hold in big cities, President Askar Akayev showed his first signs of weakening in the face of the protests, calling for talks.
Jalal-abad police station burns
The concessions came after thousands of protesters calling for President Akayev to step down took control of the second city, Osh, storming the regional government headquarters and the police and security headquarters with sticks and petrol bombs.
On Sunday, several people including four policemen are reported to have died when fighting broke out in Jalal-abad, the third largest city, where protesters also took over and burnt down the local police station.
Yesterday there were no signs of police on the streets, and a crowd of 15,000 protesters appeared to be in charge, chanting anti-Akayev slogans. Demonstrators took control of the airports at both Osh and Jalal-abad to prevent soldiers being deployed to crush their protest. The president’s office, which has faced a surge in popular protests over the weekend, finally responded yesterday.
"The most important thing right now is to let people calm down, assess what has happened and then start negotiations with them about their demands," a spokesman for Mr Akayev said from the capital, Bishkek, which so far has not been affected.
But a government statement issued later went further, announcing a review of disputed results. "The president instructed the head of the central election commission. . . to pay special attention to those districts where the results of the election brought a strong public reaction," it said.
The demonstrations were triggered by outrage at parliamentary elections the opposition says were rigged to ensure success for Mr Akayev’s supporters and family members. Many opposition politicians were prevented from standing in the two rounds of polling.
Although he has been seen by the West as the most democratic of Central Asia’s post-Soviet rulers, there are fears that Mr Akayev intends to use his parliamentary majority to secure a change in the law to allow him to stand for president again, or to rule from behind the scenes.
The United States and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe both say they believe that the elections were flawed. Inspiration for the protesters has also come from the success of recent peaceful resistance in Georgia and Ukraine.
But the situation in Kyrgyzstan is potentially more volatile. Its south suffered a series of ethnic conflicts in the 1990s between the large Uzbek population and the ruling Kyrgyz, while the country is also in a strategically sensitive position. Both the US and Russia have military bases there while it is also watched closely by China.
In Osh yesterday, protesters burnt a poster of the president. "This is a new day in our history," said Omurbek Tekebayev, an opposition spokesman.
"Power in Osh has been taken over by people!" said another.