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The protesters occupied the Kyrgyz government headquarters in Bishkek, Russian news agency RIA Novostyi reported in the morning, citing a government official.
The Russian news agency Interfax, citing the 24kg Kyrgyz news portal, wrote that other protesters occupied the Bishkek city hall building. At night, the protesters occupied the parliament, which also houses the presidential office, and the state prosecutor’s office building. People threw papers out the window of the president’s office, part of the burning building.
The ground slides under the president’s feet
President Sooronbay Jejbekbekov addressed the Kyrgyz people and said that some political forces had tried to take power overnight under the pretext of not accepting the election results. He called for order to be restored and said he met with opposition party leaders if necessary to destroy the election results.
The interior minister did not go to work, and a ministry spokesman said that Kuran Asanov, an opposition politician and former senior security service official, had assumed leadership of the Interior Ministry, which according to Reuters was presumably a sign. that it was getting out of control. The spokesman said that the police were instructed to guarantee the safety of citizens and avoid clashes and looting.
He set fire to thousands of demonstration cars rejecting the results of the weekend’s parliamentary elections and many jumped the fence surrounding the parliament and entered the building. The police tried to arrest them with water cannons and tear gas, but failed. According to the Ministry of Health, one person died overnight and approx. 600 people were injured.
The rally started on Monday morning in Bishkek’s main square, after only 4 of the initial 16 parties reached the 7 percent entry threshold, and three of them are closely linked to the president. The protesters said the authorities abused their power during the election campaign and bought votes. The 12 parties stranded abroad are demanding a new election, and the protesters want to resign from Jejbekbekov.
Western observers said the cleanup of the elections was violated by buying votes for the two parties that received the most votes, which support closer ties with Russia.
Adilet Sultanaliyev, chairman of the Birimdik Socialist Party, which received the most votes in the elections and was declared the winner by 25 percent, announced that he was ready to run in the second round and called on the other incoming parties to do the same. same. The party is also joined by the president’s younger brother, Azilbek Jyenneyov.
My country, Kyrgyzstan (Mekenim, Kyrgyzstan), which is closely linked to the Matraimov family, also received a quarter of the votes. The head of the family, Rajimbek Matraimov, was at last year’s anti-corruption protests and is said to have helped finance President Jejubekov’s successful 2017 presidential election campaign.
The former president has been released
His followers released former president Almazbek Atambayev, 63, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in the first instance for corruption, who was head of state between 2011 and 2017.
According to the summer’s verdict, Atambayev had something to do with Aziz Batukayev being able to get rid of a correctional education camp in 2013 in violation of the infamous underworld gang leaders law. Batukayev may have been released because he was said to be terminally ill, but the medical certificate presented turned out to be false. Convicted of possession of drugs and weapons and of organizing riots, Batukayev immediately went abroad.
The former head of state was suspended from his immunity by the Kyrgyz parliament last June, and when security forces wanted to detain him in early August last year in a village house near the capital, Bishkek, Atambayev’s bodyguards clashed. the commandos and took six of them hostage. His followers also rushed to help Atambayev. In a confrontation that broke out in front of the former president’s house, a commando was killed and 52 people were injured. After a 2-day siege, Atambayev finally surrendered.
The former president, for his part, is also accused of organizing massive riots in the country last August, violence against the forces of order, organizing mass riots and hostage-taking, but he is also accused of embezzlement in connection with the modernization of the Bishkek thermal power plant.
They are negotiating an interim government
Opposition circles say they have gained power by occupying the buildings and are already negotiating the composition of an interim government. The oppositionists have appointed their own Acting Head of National Security, Acting Attorney General and Commander of Bishkek, although it is unclear how much real power they have, or whether the released president will have a role. Furthermore, in the meantime, he gave no sign of resigning from power.
The protesters released some former senior officials jailed during Jekejbekov’s time, including former Prime Minister Suapar Isaakov and former Atambayev chief of staff, Farid Niyazov.
According to the local press, several provincial governors have resigned and several demonstrations are taking place in rural centers, most of them against the government. Jekbekbek supporters gather in Osan, Kyrgyzstan’s second-largest city in the south of the country, where the president’s brother, Azilbek Jyenbekov, has called for unity and order.
Kyrgyzstan borders China, is a close ally of Russia, and there has long been a geopolitical competition here between Moscow, Washington and Beijing. Among other things, the country has a base for the Russian Air Force, and a huge Canadian-controlled gold mine also operates there. Political fluctuations are not uncommon here: the country’s two presidents have been overthrown by rebellions over the past 15 years. (BBC, Reuters, MTI)
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