Kyrgyz opposition accused of planning coup

Top Kyrgyzstan officials today alleged the opposition, which has declared a non-stop anti-government rally in the capital, had planned a coup.

Prime Minister Felix Kulov told a government session that an unidentified person had handed over a recording of a conversation between opposition leaders and representatives of an unspecified non-governmental organisation discussing a coup in the turbulent ex-Soviet state.

“They talked about seizing the city hall, the Committee for State Security, state television and some buildings in the provinces,” Kulov said.

Part of the recording was played at the government session, and voices resembling those of opposition leaders Omurbek Tekebayev and Almazbek Atambayev could be heard amid background noise, but the words were not discernible to reporters in the hall.

The opposition rejected the allegations as “a provocation.”

Several hundreds opposition protesters besieged the state television offices for several hours today while opposition leaders went inside to demand air time.

The authorities promised them two slots later today.