Uzbek extremists free prison inmates

An armed crowd freed inmates from a prison in an eastern Uzbekistan city as thousands of activists took to the streets today to protest the trial of 23 Islamic businessmen on extremism charges while security forces fired into the air, witnesses said.

Uzbek President Islam Karimov and other leaders were flying to the eastern city, Andijan, to assess the situation and state and regional administrative buildings there remained under government control, police and government spokesmen said on condition of anonymity.