Kyrgyzstan protesters storm state media offices

Kyrgyzstan protesters storm state media offices

news.bbc.co.uk

Opposition supporters in Kyrgyzstan have stormed the offices of state radio and TV amid escalating unrest over rising fuel prices and corruption.

It comes after at least four people were killed in clashes between police and protesters outside President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's offices.

There are reports police fired live rounds after failing to disperse them with tear gas and stun grenades.

President Bakiyev has declared a state of emergency in protest-hit areas.

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
The New Great Game
Battle of the Titans: The New Great Game II

Kyrgyzstan may seem like a total backwater, but Central Asia is the focus of the new great game where oil is the name of the game. Instability in the region will send chills down the spine of many western governments.

A total crackdown is highly likely. Hopefully it won't get too much uglier...



news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)


[edit to add map:]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/88d8910a06a4.jpg[/atsimg]


[edit on 7/4/10 by pause4thought]

mmmmmm social unrest *drools*[/Homer]

Love it, i love it when the people speak up. Protesting may not be the most efficient way to change policies, but IMO it is the most efficient way to make a point heard.

I hope those live rounds hit bricks and motar, instead of flesh and bone. (FTP)

reply to post by Acidtastic


If only!

But this Stop Press has just been added to the article:

In Bishkek, protesters attempted to storm the president's office but were held back by security forces, who reportedly fired live rounds into the crowd.

reply to post by pause4thought


Right now stories are conflicting.. it's not reported how many have been killed since the storming (aside from 5 killed in previous clashes) however it's not even clear if the Government still has control over the media offices.. nothing has been reported to say police were or were not successful at defending their positions. The only thing certain is since the storming of the offices media has been black.

Hope few had to die in their attempt to bring corrupted leaders to justice.

Thailand has also just declared an state of emergency, as the protestors stormed parliment this morning.

I have covered both events on a differant forum here:

Asia in Turmoil - State of Emergency declared in Thailand & Kyrgyzstan

At least 12 have been shot dead according to AP in Kyrgyzstan

Have some video on the above thread.

Kind Regards,

Elf

reply to post by Rockpuck


It sounds chaotic. And the news is getting worse as we speak:

Ten people have been killed in an opposition rally in Kyrgyzstan, Russia's Interfax news agency reported Wednesday.

The news agency quoted Toktaim Umetaliyeva, a human rights activist who is among the protesters, as saying that 10 people have been shot dead. Repeated attempts to reach the president's office in Kyrgyzstan were unsuccessful Wednesday...

Report: Kyrgyzstan unrest prompts state of emergency

reply to post by MischeviousElf


The situation in Thailand is clearly massive news as well. Could Greece be next, you have to ask.


Video of the protest / crackdown is now shown in the OP source article.

reply to post by pause4thought


I think so Pause, I have seen this simmering for a while, not only Greece, the USA with "Tea Party", France is on the edge with their unions, Britain is facing the largest strikes and actions for many years to. Protests have also taken place in Russia recently.

For the first time in a long time Zimbabwe's people are taking to the streets and ignoring the dangers of doing so, Knowing certain death or beatings.... the people have had enough and are rising across the globe.

I cover the buildups and all the current "Hotspots" for this growing trend on this thread:"We the People" Summer of Discontent and Protests?Worldwide Strike April 15th-18th

This is imho just a taster of what is going to happen over the coming months.

Kind Regards,

Elf

When is America going to find the guts to do something about their country ?

I'm running out of patience.....please....please...

Give peace a chance.

UPDATE!

The Russian air base is given in high alert because of the unrest in Kyrgyzstan

Personnel of the Russian airbase in Kant is given in high alert in connection with the riots in Kyrgyzstan, reports "Interfax quoted a source at the base. Currently, divisions of Russian troops remain neutral and not interfere in the events. However, layoffs and city output for the military canceled, enhanced protection of critical facilities.

Link to the Google translator of the news provided by lenta.ru

Apparently the protesters killed a minister Mr. Moldomusa Kongatiyev , beat him to death .

Unconfirmed as of yet .

APA is reporting

Kyrgyz Interior Minister and Vice Prime Minister taken hostage

Interior Minister of Kyrgyzstan Moldomus Kongantiyev, Vice Prime Minister Akilbek Kaparov and Governor of Talas region Beyshenbek Bolotbekov were taken hostage by the trouble-makers, who reportedly seized the arms and ammunitions at the building of the Office of Internal Affairs.

killing people out of high fuel prices?

ya, I know that it also said corruption, but doesn't the whole fuel prices tidbit thrown in there cheapen the view..now I am having trouble getting past a bunch of people bitching about spending a extra buck per gallon of gas and so deciding to kill people over it.

perhaps that is why it was tossed in..so people wont identify and accept the populous movement to remove a corrupt government...assuming its corrupt that is and not just...you know...broke.

AFP's Matthew Siegel at Bishkek protests: "People said that they'd been shot" Anti-government protests in Kyrgyzstan have escalated violently, with 17 people killed as police clashed with demonstrators in the capital, Bishkek.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Death toll is rising fast - that sounds toll of real battles there!

The Protestors in Kyrgyzstan have taken the Prime Minister Hostage!:

Kyrgyz Interior Minister and Vice Prime Minister taken hostage

nterior Minister of Kyrgyzstan Moldomus Kongantiyev, Vice Prime Minister Akilbek Kaparov and Governor of Talas region Beyshenbek Bolotbekov were taken hostage by the trouble-makers, who reportedly seized the arms and ammunitions at the building of the Office of Internal Affairs.

APA

The protest is spreading:

Riot police fought running battles with more than 5,000 demonstrators in the capital Bishkek as angry crowds demanded the resignation of President Kumanbek Bakiyev. Kyrgyzstan’s Health Ministry spokeswoman Larisa Kachibekova confirmed the casualty figures.

Times Online

Some reports indicate that the protestors have stolen armed riot vans for the police, and photos from the area show protestors wearing Police Riot Helmets and shields, you do not need much imagination to understand what happened to the police who were wearing them!

Also

Kyrgyzstan’s Interior Minister Moldomus Kongantiyev was reported to have been killed by protestors in the north-western city of Talas, where riots first erupted yesterday

There are Videos of the clashes on the BBC website here:BBC

In addition it is being reported that the Russain military and others has gone on alert:

Neighboring Uzbekistan reportedly increased security along its borders with Kyrgyzstan.

Kazakh authorities said they would take all necessary measures to reinforce security alongside the Kazakh-Kyrgyz border if the situation in the neighboring country escalated further.

"So far, the border is operating under its regular regime," Kenzhebulat Beknazarov. a spokesman for the Kazakh Committee for National Security, told reporters today. "However, the Kazakh border service is ready to take appropriate measures to reinforce the border if any threat to our national security occurs," he added.

Russia, which has a military base at Kant airport outside Bishkek, expressed concern about the ongoing tension in Kyrgyzstan. Moscow called on the Kyrgyz government not to use force against protesters to avoid bloodshed. The Interfax news agency quoted sources in Kant as saying Russian forces remain inside the base and that they had been put on a state of higher alert.

Radio Free Europe

.............................................

In Thailand, even though a state of emergency has been called the red shirts leaders are calling for a large mass demostration friday, and refusing to disband from their protest sites:

BANGKOK, April 7 (Xinhua) -- The anti-government "red-shirts" announced on Wednesday evening that they will continue protest in capital Bangkok though the prime minister declared a state of emergency, Thailand's Channel 9 Television reported.

After Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared the state of emergency in Bangkok, Nonthaburi, and some areas in Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom and Ayutthaya, "red-shirt" core leader Nattthawut Saikua announced the protesters will not leave their rally sites at Bangkok's Phan Fa Bridge and Ratchaprasong Intersection.

Moreover, the "red-shirts" have planned a mass rally on Friday in a bid to pressure the prime minister to dissolve the House of Representatives within 15 days.

The protest leaders have also urged the "red-shirts" in the country to stage a rally at provincial hall.

news.xinhuanet.com... .htm

All the world markets seem to be subdued I wonder how the Asian & australian Markets will react when they open tonight?

Kind Regards,

Elf


[edit on 7-4-2010 by MischeviousElf]

Blimey! It's proper kicking off.

Shame my wish for unhurt protesters was ignored by G_d *shakes fist at the sky*

But still, this may well be the price we all have to pay at future protests if this is anything to go by. I'm ready to die for my cause. (actually, I'm not, but it makes me look brave posting it )

Couple of videos i found what is happening in Kyrgyzstan






[edit on 7-4-2010 by Hithe Merinos]

Things are going straight down the tubes everywhere, and it looks like it will only get worse. The police have a term, "contagious gunfire" I believe it is, where one person in a tense standoff starts shooting for whatever reason, and everyone else starts shooting for no better reason than because the shooting has apparently started. I hope this isn't a worldwide version of that phenomenon.

www.reuters.com...

(Reuters) - Kyrgyz troops opened fire on anti-government protesters on Wednesday outside the offices where President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was sheltering from clashes that have killed dozens of people, a Reuters witness said.

WORLD

A group of at least 10 government soldiers were shooting with automatic weapons from the government headquarters toward demonstrators, a Reuters cameraman said.

But a group of protesters, waving red-and-yellow Kyrgyz flags, arrived in the main square on an armored personnel carrier seized from the military.

Huge plumes of black smoke were billowing around the center of Bishkek, the capital of the impoverished Central Asian state of 5.3 million people. There was intense gunfire in the center of Bishkek and a series of blasts. Protesters were dragging wounded people covered in blood away from the square.

"There are dozens of dead bodies, all with gunshot wounds," Akylbek Yeukebayev, a doctor at a Bishkek hospital told Reuters.

Ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan hosts a U.S. military air base that helps support troops in Afghanistan, as well as a Russian base.

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov, who earlier dismissed the protesters in Talas as "bandits," told Reuters by telephone that he and the president were both working in their offices.

"We daren't even look out of the window," Kamil Sydykov, the prime minister's spokesman, said by telephone from inside the presidential building.

Some 1,000 people stormed the prosecutor-general's office in the capital and were breaking windows and tossing out computers and office equipment, a Reuters reporter said. Opposition activists also took control of state television channel KTR.

"The political violence is likely to continue in Kyrgyzstan," said Lilit Gevorgyan, political analyst at IHS Global Insight. "Given (Bakiyev's) resolve in recent years to concentrate power in his hands only, it is difficult to see how a political compromise may be found."

Kyrgyzstan receives aid from both Russia and the United States as well as from neighboring China. Bishkek also relies on remittances from migrant workers in Russia; payments that have dwindled in the last year as Russia's economy has suffered.

"The country still has an inherent vulnerability which in an environment of economic dislocation can easily be sparked off into a new cycle of violence," said Christopher Granville of Trusted Sources Research in London.

"The drop in remittances is a very important part of the explanation for the latest civic violence," he said.

UNREST SPREADS

Protesters seized government buildings in three other towns. In one town, Talas, Kyrgyz First Deputy Prime Minister Aklybek Japarov and Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongantiyev were badly beaten. Kongantiyev was forced to shout: "Down with Bakiyev!," two witnesses said.

The opposition in Kyrgyzstan has been demanding that Bakiyev, who himself came to power in a popular revolt in 2005, tackle corruption and fire his relatives from senior positions.

Russia called for restraint. "We would like to make an urgent appeal to the hostile parties to refrain from the use of force to avoid bloodshed," Andrei Nesterenko, spokesman for Russia's Foreign Ministry, said in a statement.

The Kyrgyz government declared a state of emergency and said a curfew would be enforced between 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. in Bishkek and three other regions of Kyrgyzstan.

Bakiyev, from the south of Kyrgyzstan, has angered clans from Bishkek, Talas and other regions by appointing in his own kinsmen to senior positions, and excluding others from power, said Reinhard Krumm, director of a Moscow think-tank.

The protests spread to the capital after riots which began in Talas the day before and continued into Wednesday.

"We will stay here until the end, no matter what the government does," Talas Kadyraliyev, a 45-year-old local opposition activist, told Reuters from the scene.

In Naryn, a town in central Kyrgyzstan, more than 1,000 opponents of the president also took over the local government building, witnesses told Reuters. The government headquarters in a southern village, Kerben, were also occupied by protesters.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Bishkek last week and called on the government to do more to protect human rights. Ban was shocked at the loss of life in Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday.

"The Secretary General is shocked by the reported deaths and injuries that have occurred today in Kyrgyzstan. He urgently appeals for dialogue and calm to avoid further bloodshed," Ban's spokesman, Martin Nesirky, said during a transit stop in Moscow.

(Additional reporting by Alexander Reshetnikov and Maria Golovnina in Bishkek and Conor Sweeney in Moscow; Writing by Robin Paxton; Editing by Jon Hemming)