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Protesters oust Kyrgyz government
The opposition in Kyrgyzstan says it has taken control of the capital, Bishkek, after overrunning the president's palace.
Protesters confronted supporters of President Askar Akayev before flooding into government offices.
A prominent Kyrgyz opposition leader, Felix Kulov, made a televised appeal for calm after being freed from jail.
Demonstrations were stepped up after recent parliamentary elections, which the opposition said were rigged.
An unconfirmed report by Interfax news agency said Mr Akayev and his family have left Bishkek by helicopter.
Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court has annulled February's controversial elections and recognised the former parliament as the legitimate legislature, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted court chairman, Kurmanbek Osmonov, as saying.
Palace stormed
At the palace - also the seat of government - police melted away as hundreds of protesters flooded into the compound.
Some appeared in windows, waving flags and throwing out documents.
Officials were seen fleeing by the back door.
Mr Akayev had been due to hold talks on the crisis in Bishkek with a special envoy from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), but the meeting did not take place.
Mr Kulov, a former vice-president who was jailed for embezzlement in 2000, appealed to Mr Akayev to "meet with opposition leaders in order to peacefully and constitutionally transfer power".
Observers say Mr Kulov is emerging as the leader of what is a fractious opposition.
Clashes
The BBC's Central Asia correspondent Monica Whitlock says events have moved at lightning speed, from a quiet demonstration in the morning to a full-scale insurrection.
The demonstration in Bishkek grew rapidly from a few hundred people to as many as 10,000.
Protesters chanting "Down with the Akayev clans" marched through the capital to the presidential palace, known as the White House.
Security forces surrounding the building repelled an initial attempt to storm the compound, but offered little resistance when the demonstrators fought back.
Clashes erupted between protesters and government supporters in nearby Ala Too Square and there were reports of some injuries.
The opposition has appeared united so far in calling for the president to resign and for new elections to be held.
But our correspondent says the fact that some of the demonstrators are carrying pink banners while others carry yellow shows how difficult it may be for them to find common ground on more complicated political issues.
Opposition activists have also seized control of several regional government buildings in key towns in the south of the country.
Russia, which considers Kyrgyzstan as part of its natural sphere of influence, urged the country to "return onto a lawful path", AFP news agency quoted the Russian foreign ministry as saying.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4379441.stm
A prominent Kyrgyz opposition leader, Felix Kulov, made a televised appeal for calm after being freed from jail.
Demonstrations were stepped up after recent parliamentary elections, which the opposition said were rigged.
An unconfirmed report by Interfax news agency said Mr Akayev and his family have left Bishkek by helicopter.
Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court has annulled February's controversial elections and recognised the former parliament as the legitimate legislature, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted court chairman, Kurmanbek Osmonov, as saying.
Palace stormed
At the palace - also the seat of government - police melted away as hundreds of protesters flooded into the compound.
Some appeared in windows, waving flags and throwing out documents.
Officials were seen fleeing by the back door.
Mr Akayev had been due to hold talks on the crisis in Bishkek with a special envoy from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), but the meeting did not take place.
Mr Kulov, a former vice-president who was jailed for embezzlement in 2000, appealed to Mr Akayev to "meet with opposition leaders in order to peacefully and constitutionally transfer power".
Observers say Mr Kulov is emerging as the leader of what is a fractious opposition.
Clashes
The BBC's Central Asia correspondent Monica Whitlock says events have moved at lightning speed, from a quiet demonstration in the morning to a full-scale insurrection.
The demonstration in Bishkek grew rapidly from a few hundred people to as many as 10,000.
Protesters chanting "Down with the Akayev clans" marched through the capital to the presidential palace, known as the White House.
Security forces surrounding the building repelled an initial attempt to storm the compound, but offered little resistance when the demonstrators fought back.
Clashes erupted between protesters and government supporters in nearby Ala Too Square and there were reports of some injuries.
The opposition has appeared united so far in calling for the president to resign and for new elections to be held.
But our correspondent says the fact that some of the demonstrators are carrying pink banners while others carry yellow shows how difficult it may be for them to find common ground on more complicated political issues.
Opposition activists have also seized control of several regional government buildings in key towns in the south of the country.
Russia, which considers Kyrgyzstan as part of its natural sphere of influence, urged the country to "return onto a lawful path", AFP news agency quoted the Russian foreign ministry as saying.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4379441.stm
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Protesters have stormed the presidential compound in Kyrgyzstan, seizing control of the symbol of power after clashing with riot police who were surrounding it during a large opposition rally.
Impoverished Kyrgyzstan looks set to become the third ex-Soviet state in two years to see its entrenched leadership fall to popular protests after disputed elections, following Ukraine and Georgia.
About 1000 protesters on Thursday managed to clear riot police from their positions outside the fence protecting the building, and about half that number entered the compound and went into the building through the front entrance.
Others smashed windows with stones, while hundreds of police watched from outside the fence.
Protesters led the defence minister out of the building, holding him by the elbows and trying to protect him, but others threw stones at the military chief and one protester kicked him.
Interior Ministry troops led other officials out, and three injured people left in bandages, accompanied by a doctor.
Opposition pledge
It was the culmination of the first major rally in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek since opposition supporters seized control of key cities and towns in the south to underline their demands that President Askar Akayev step down amid allegations of fraud in this year's parliamentary vote.
"We will establish order. We will not allow looting. We will hold our own elections to start our rule," former prime minister Kurmanbek Bakiev, who has emerged as one of the key figures in the protests against Akayev's rule, declared on Thursday.
Charges that parliamentary elections in February and March were rigged triggered the opposition protests that began in the south of the country.
People in bandages
Many of the demonstrators who stormed the presidential compound had come from a rally on the outskirts of Bishkek, where protesters roared and clapped when an opposition activist asserted that Akayev's foes would soon control the entire Central Asian nation.
"Akayev's days are numbered," Topchubek Turgunaliyev, an
activist of the opposition People's Movement of Kyrgyzstan,
told the crowd.
Bakiyev, who now heads the People's Movement, told crowds at an earlier rally: "The people of Kyrgyzstan will not let anybody torment them.
"We must show persistence and strength, and we will win."
In Thursday's dramatic scenes in Bishkek, marchers trooped to the government headquarters, a hulking Soviet-era building set away from the street.
A protester charged through the square on horseback, a yellow opposition flag flapping. Two protesters waved a flag from a top-floor window in the building, and others looked out of other windows as cheers erupted from demonstrators.
Portraits dumped
The protesters appeared to control the building, with some on every floor. They threw papers and portraits of Akayev out of windows.
It was unclear where Akayev was. Some camouflage-clad troops were leaving the building, and none appeared to be confronting the protesters.
Many of the demonstrators wore pink or yellow headbands signifying their loyalty to the opposition - reminiscent of the orange worn by protesters who helped topple the Ukrainian government last year.
The opposition also said it had taken over the national television station. "The latest news is that national TV is with us," an opposition leader told a rally in central Bishkek.
There was no word on the fate of Akayev, who has been in
power for 14 years. Local media speculated he might have gone to a Russian airbase 20km outside the capital.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0F1C99B7-5AAD-4675-8F3C-3CDF1D920B7A.htm