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Kyrgyz Protesters March Towards Main Govt Building

by reposts
BISHKEK (Reuters) - About 2,000 demonstrators, protesting against the rule of Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev, on Thursday headed toward the main government building in the capital, a Reuters witness said.

The protesters earlier massed in front of a hospital denouncing the veteran Kyrgyz leader and then set off for the White House, the seat of government, about a mile away, Reuters correspondent Dmitry Solovyov said.
mdf905282.jpg
Opposition protesters rally in the southern Kyrgyz town of Jalal Abad, March 23, 2005. President Askar Akayev, under pressure from violent protests in the south of Kyrgyzstan over a disputed election, sacked his interior minister and the general prosecutor. (Viktor Korotayev/Reuters)

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7992474

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) - Irina Kuznetsova scowled at a newspaper headline about unrest gripping southern Kyrgyzstan, where opposition forces demanding the president's resignation have seized government buildings in key cities.

``Fools!'' she spat out, scanning the papers at a news kiosk on Bishkek's main street.

Like many others, the 40-year-old Kuznetsova is worried the protests, which were triggered by disputed parliamentary elections, could spread northward to the capital.

President Askar Akayev's government took a firm stand Wednesday, sending riot police to break up a rally in Bishkek and warning it would not tolerate efforts to seize buildings in the city.

Akayev fired the interior minister over the southern unrest, and replacement Interior Minister Keneshbek Dushebayev declared Wednesday, ``We will not let any stormings, seizures and takeovers in Bishkek.''

Persistent rumors that opposition forces would stream into the capital have not proved true so far. But the harsh breakup of the rally on Wednesday sent an unmistakable signal.

About 200 helmeted riot police encircled groups of anti-Akayev protesters, scuffling with those who resisted and locking arms to force them out of the square. Police dragged some protesters away and detained 20 to 30 of them.

``If (Akayev) does not find common language with the opposition, we will not avoid bloodshed,'' said Asylbek Korchuyev, 65, one of a handful of people who have come to a small park every day for weeks, hoping that a large rally against Akayev might occur at the main square nearby.

``Akayev is corrupt. There is no place for him in this country. We will get him even if he flees to Alaska,'' said Korchuyev.

Others in the capital, however, support Akayev or are more concerned about keeping their jobs and making a living than about who is in power.

At the newsstand, Kuznetsova, an ethnic Russian who has lived in Bishkek most of her life, said she saw no alternative to Akayev. The opposition says Akayev, 15 years in power, is plotting to extend his time in office despite his insistence that he will step down after a presidential election scheduled for October.

Like the government, Kuznetsova dismisses the opposition leaders in the south as self-interested leaders who have recruited jobless men from the impoverished countryside to press their cause.

``This mess has been organized by a handful of people. They are doing it with the hands of some foolish, uneducated people,'' agreed Ruslan, a middle-aged Bishkek resident who would give only his first name. ``It's not good.''

Akayev is a northerner and in a political arena where alliances are based as much on clan as on ideology. That lends him comparatively strong support in the region that includes the capital.

But the animus of people like Korchuyev and those who have gathered with him to protest suggests that the capital is not immune to serious unrest.

``If people rise up, I will support them,'' said Orazbek Ardybayev, a vegetable vendor who came to Bishkek from the Osh region in the south, where the opposition forces have seized the administration building. ``We have to change the government. Maybe life will change for the better then.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4888460,00.html
by more
A major anti-government rally is underway in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.

More than 1,000 opposition supporters have taken to the streets, demanding that President Askar Akayev step down and calling him a cheat and a liar.

Thursday's demonstration was the first real show of opposition strength in the capital, according to the BBC Central Asia correspondent Monica Whitlock.

It follows a small rally on Wednesday, and larger protests in the south, where the opposition now controls two cities.

The wave of unrest was sparked by disputed elections in February, and a second round on 13 March, which saw the opposition reduced to just a handful of seats in the 75-member parliament.

According to our correspondent, the authorities will be especially sensitive about opposition actions in the government's seat of power, traditionally a stronghold for President Akayev.

Gathering pace

The number of protesters in Bishkek is increasing all the time, our correspondent says, and a second rally is starting to form in another part of the city.

The police are out in force, but have not intervened. The leaders of the protest called on the new hardline interior minister, Keneshbek Dushebayev, to appear, which he eventually did.

Mr Dushebayev asked protesters to behave, saying he would never give the order for police to use weapons against peaceful demonstrators.

But he also reportedly warned that "law-enforcement agencies will prevent any activity posing a threat to the public in the Kyrgyz capital".

The focus of the rally shows how diverse anti-government feeling has become, our correspondent says.

It was called not by a politician, but by a well-known doctor, famous for his success in treating drug addicts.

Until now the focus of the protests in Kyrgyzstan has been confined to the southern towns of Osh and Jalal-Abad, where local opposition forces took over government buildings and the airports on Monday.

On Tuesday evening, President Akayev appeared on television and invited the opposition to open what he called a civilised dialogue.

But so far there have been no negotiations between the two sides - complicated by the fact that the opposition is splintered along regional lines and so far has no clear leader.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4378029.stm
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by ?
"More than 1,000 opposition supporters have taken to the streets, demanding that President Askar Akayev step down and calling him a cheat and a liar."

how come one never sees headlines like "More than 1,000 opposition supporters have taken to the streets, demanding that President Bush step down and calling him a cheat and a liar". Last week we had 10,000 plus and in past years 100,000+ biut never such a headline...
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