At least 17 deaths in Kyrgyzstan protests

ANTI-GOVERNMENT unrest rocked the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan yesterday 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 violence shattered the relative stability of this former Soviet nation, which houses a US military base that is a key supply centre 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 said Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongatiyev was beaten to death by a mob in the western town of Talas where the unrest erupted a day before. The respected Fergana.ru website 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 spokes-woman Yelena Bayalinova said 180 people were hurt in the clashes yesterday, 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.

Since coming to power in 2005 on a wave of street protests known as the Tulip Revolution, President Kurmanbek 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% hike in electricity and heating gas bills has galvanised the fractious opposition.

Police in Bishkek at first used rubber bullets, tear gas, water cannons and concussion grenades yesterday 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 armoured 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 yesterday.