10:32am, 25.03.2005
Kurmanbek Bakiev, who today was designated the acting president and premier of Kyrgyzstan, called on his people to exercise good judgement and tolerance. Bakiev spoke about this today on the main square of Bishkek before two thousand demonstrators.
Meanwhile, Bakiev was able to convince the crowd of protesters to move from near the parliament building to Ala-too Square near the Freedom monument. This was the only place in the city where an ITAR-TASS correspondent saw people in uniform - two soldiers from the honor guard who stand watch over the Kyrgyzstan flag. Neither military nor police officers were to be seen anywhere else in the city.
The acting premier of Kyrgyzstan also proposed that parliament name one of the oppostion leaders, Rosa Otunbaeva, head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
10:04am, 25.03.2005
One of the leaders of the Kyrgyz opposition, Feliks Kulov, has promised to return to prison after order is restored in the country. "As an inmate, I will have to return to jail," said Kulov in a live television broadcast.
Kulov was freed from prison yesterday by opposition activists yesterday after the government building was seized in Bishkek. Kulov is currently coordinating the activities of all military and law enforcement agencies (silovye struktury) in the country, and he was holding a meeting all night.
Now Kulov has addressed the citizens of Kyrgyzstan with a call to support the representatives of law enforcement; according to him, he was shocked at what occurred in Bishkek last night: "God forbid anyone should have such a revolution," said Kulov.
10:03am, 25.03.2005
At least 4 people were killed in Bishkek last night. Over 350 sought medical assistance. Law enforcement agencies are not doing anything, according to press agency reports from the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
The police are nowhere to be seen in the city. According to RIA Novosti, people are surprised that the guardians of law and order seem to have been swallowed up by the earth. The national flag is not waving as usual over the building of the presidential administration with its broken windows. Several booths near the building have been destroyed, and beyond the fence the building is approached and guarded by people in civilian clothes who identify themselves as belonging to the people's militia (narodnaia druzhina).
According to RIA, a looted Bishkek greeted the second day of the revolution amidst the smoke of many fires. Overnight in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, the main supermakets were looted. Near the now-empty stores groups of people are talking about those involved in the prior night's pillaging. "For the most part they were young people, who looked like out-of-towners," said one
elderly woman. "But our neighbors," she added, "were also taking things out of here." Most of the stores and gas stations in Bishkek are closed. The leaders of the opposition youth organization "Get up and go" ("Vstan' i idi") blamed provocateurs and officials of the overthrown government for the prior night's events in an morning broadcast on Kyrgyz television.
Russian journalists have been the victims of attacks. A film crew from the TV channel Moskovia was beaten while filming at night; a mobile phone was taken from them and their vehicle was destroyed. In addition, unknown individuals attacked a REN-TV crew.
10:02am, 25.03.2005
A state of emergency will not be declared in Kyrgyzstan at this time, said the new acting presideng and prime minister, Kurmanbek Bakiev.
Speaking about the members of the new government, he promised that they would all be honorable (dostoinye) people. Bakiev made these statements to the people currently demonstrating near the parliament building.
In Bishkek, near the government bulding, the demonstrators are setting up tents, according to RIA Novisti. The plan is for protest participants to spend the night here. As one of the protesters told RIA, the tents along with a field kitchen and food had been delivered by the country's Ministry of Emergency Situations.
According to opposition reports, a group of some 5,000 people from the Chuisky region is approaching Bishkek. Demonstrators from the southern regions of the country who have learned of the events in the capital are also arriving.
I haven't been following the events closely enough to gauge the level of bias in these reports. It seems like Russians - even the usually evenhanded journalists at Echo of Moscow; although most of these reports look like they were culled from the RIA Novosti and ITAR-TASS wires, which would make them more dubious - might have an interest in portraying this as a chaotic, out-of-control situation. In any event, it looks like things are getting interesting down there.
Apologies for any imprecisions in the translation - I wanted to get this out there quickly.
No comments:
Post a Comment