Democracy protesters storm police station

About 10,000 pro-democracy protesters stormed a police station and forced workers to flee a governor’s office in Kyrgyzstan today, a government spokesman said, in the biggest demonstration since allegedly fraudulent elections last month.

Police fled to the roof of their station, firing shots into the air to deter the stone-throwing protesters in the southern city of Jalal-Abad, regional government spokesman Orazaly Karasartov said.

She said smoke could be seen rising from the police station and that protesters broke windows.

Local civic activist Cholpon Ergesheva said 20,000 people were taking part in the protests in Jalal-Abad.

Several people were believed to be injured, though it was not clear how many.

The riot was the latest in a string of nationwide protests sparked by the February 27 parliamentary elections in which President Askar Akayev’s allies fared overwhelmingly well.

Critics claim the vote and a subsequent run-off election were marred by widespread abuses. Europe and the United States said were seriously flawed.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe issued a statement today urging the government and the opposition to refrain from using force and to begin a dialogue.