Violent Clashes Rock Southern Kyrgyzstan

Violent clashes erupted in southern Kyrgyzstan on March 20, as officials attempted to reassert their authority by forcibly dispersing protesters from government offices in Osh and Jalal-Abad. The anti-government demonstrators reportedly put up fierce resistance, plunging the country into a period of uncertainty. According to unconfirmed reports some police units were refusing to follow orders issued by officials in Bishkek.

The trouble started just before dawn on March 20, when special police units used force to take back the local administration offices in both Osh and Jalal-Abad. Protesters, led by political opponents of President Askar Akayev, had occupied the government building in Jalal-Abad since March 4. The government office in Osh had been in protesters' hands since March 18.

Information was sketchy on the number of injured during the special police operation. According to Radio Liberty, a large number of demonstrators were injured, some seriously, in clashes with heavily armed police. Witnesses in both Osh and Jalal-Abad reported hearing shots fired.

The more serious confrontation appeared to be in Jalal-Abad, where a crowd of up to 10,000 opposition supporters gathered to resist the police. According to the AKIpress news agency, a mob set fire to the local Interior Ministry building, injuring 14 police officers in the process. There were additional reports that the crowd aimed to re-take the administration building seized by police earlier in the day. Local authorities publicly denied rumors circulating in the city that police had opened fire on the demonstrators, killing four, the official Kabar news agency reported.

In Osh, a regional official reported that 158 people had been arrested during the police operation, and 14 had been hospitalized, Kabar reported. Among those taken into custody was Anvar Artykov, who had been named by the protesters as the "people's governor" of Osh, the Russian news agency RIA-Novosti said.

There were unconfirmed reports of Interior Ministry units going over to the demonstrators' side. For example, RIA-Novosti quoted opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva as saying that demonstrators had regained total control of Jalal-Abad by midday on March 20, and that local police had declared their loyalty to the opposition.

Amid the uncertainty in southern Kyrgyzstan, speculation mounted concerning President Akayev's whereabouts. Akayev was reported to be in Moscow, according to some unverified Internet reports. The president's press office acted quickly to quash rumors that the president had left the country. "President Askar Akayev has not left Bishkek, and he has no plans to do so," a report distributed by the official Kabar news agency said.

Southern Kyrgyzstan has been the scene of building anti-government protests since February 27, when Kyrgyzstan held its first round of parliamentary elections. [For background see the Eursasia Insight archive]. Opposition leaders accused authorities of electoral misconduct and began to demand Akayev's resignation. Authorities had been largely restrained in their response to the ongoing protests. However, the seizure of the administration building in Osh, the largest city in southern Kyrgyzstan, apparently prompted Bishkek to attempt the crack down.