European Forum

Crisis in Kyrgyzstan: clashes escalated, state of emergency declared

On 7 April it was reported that seventeen people have been killed and more than 100 injured in escalating clashes between protesters and police in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
Protesters attacked President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's offices and stormed the state TV and radio headquarters, taking them briefly off air. There are reports police fired live rounds after failing to disperse people with tear gas and stun grenades. President Bakiyev has declared a state of emergency in protest-hit areas. 

The unrest has threatened the relative stability of this mountainous former Soviet nation, which houses a U.S. military base that is a key supply center in the fight against the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Seventeen people killed in violent clashes 
Demonstrators furious over government corruption and a recent hike in power prices looted the state television and radio building and were marching toward the Interior Ministry in the capital, Bishkek, according to reporters on the scene. Elite police opened fire to drive crowds back from government headquarters. Health Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Bayalinova said 180 people were hurt in the clashes Wednesday, without elaborating. Opposition activists said 17 people died after police opened fire with live ammunition. That figure of 17 dead was confirmed by another government health official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. 

Government looses control
The opposition began the day vowing to defy the crackdown launched by increasingly authoritarian President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. The president was not seen in public and his whereabouts were unclear. In a desperate bid to contain the unrest, Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov declared a state of emergency. But shortly after the announcement, opposition protesters stormed the Kyrgyz television centre, forcing a halt to all programmes, in a dramatic sign that the government was fast losing its grip. A source in the office of Interior Minister Moldomus Kongantiyev confirmed the killing of the Interior Minister during riots in the northwest hub of Talas where the first protests had erupted a day earlier. Kongantiyev had been attacked by protesters in Talas who had also taken deputy prime minister Akylbek Zhaparov captive. In Bishkek, explosions from stun grenades reverberated across the city and the crackle of automatic weapons fire filled the air as protesters in the main square gasped for breath in a fog of tear gas. Police cars have been overturned and set alight and officers attacked by the crowd, some of whom were armed. Protesters furthermore appeared to have seized several heavily armored police vehicles and were standing atop them waving red Kyrgyz flags and the blue flag of the opposition movement. 

Russia and United States voiced concerns
Amid appeals for calm from Russia, authorities in the ex-Soviet republic said three opposition leaders had been arrested for perpetrating "serious crimes". The United States, which maintains an airbase in Kyrgyzstan used in the NATO campaign in nearby Afghanistan, also voiced "deep concern". The riots in Bishkek were the culmination of spiralling protests by the opposition which accuses the government of rights violations, authoritarianism and economic mismanagement. The riots in Bishkek were the culmination of spiraling protests by the opposition which accuses the government of rights violations, authoritarianism and economic mismanagement.