Kyrgyzstani Government Ousted in Violent Uprising
April 8th, 2010Via: Globe and Mail:
Massive, violent protests have toppled the authoritarian regime in Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished Central Asian republic wooed by both Moscow and Washington and the site of a sprawling air base vital to the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
By nightfall, the opposition claimed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev had fled and a new government headed by former foreign minister Rosa Otumbayeva, 59, was in control.
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Scores of protesters were reportedly shot and killed by security forces during waves of day-long running battles that left the capital littered with burning vehicles as crowds stormed the main television station and the Interior Ministry. According to witness reports, another leading opposition figure, Keneshbek Duishebayev, was issuing orders for calm from the National Security Agency, the reviled and feared secret police.
After days of mounting violence, Mr. Bakiyev, the increasingly repressive and unpopular Kyrgyzstani leader, reportedly fled Bishkek on the presidential jet and was believed headed for Osh, a city in the Uzbek south of the landlocked former Soviet republic.
