Thousands of Kyrgyz demonstrators protest utility tariffs hike and political oppression

Kyrgyz opposition protests rising utility tariffs

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Thousands of demonstrators rallied in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Wednesday to protest recent sharp increases in heating and electricity tariffs and alleged oppression of government opponents.

Addressing a crowd of around 3,000 people, Ata-Meken party leader Omurbek Tekebayev said the opposition “should take power into its own hands” if the government does not heed its demands.

Public dissatisfaction with President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s government is running high in this impoverished former Soviet Central Asian country. Since coming to power on a wave of street protests in 2005, Bakiyev has ensured a measure of stability, but many observers say he has done so at the expense of democratic standards.

The rally in Bishkek was held outside the headquarters of the opposition Social Democratic party after city authorities denied permission to gather in a square near the presidential administration. That spot was the site of the 2005 demonstrations that culminated when protesters stormed the building and forced President Askar Akayev to flee.

Aida Abdykadyrova, 17, said she traveled to the demonstration with her family from their village to protest a fourfold increase in their electricity bills.

“After paying the bills, we had to go hungry and we cannot afford to buy anything for the children,” Abdykadyrova said.

Anara Dzhamgirchiyeva, an activist with the For Democracy and Civil Society coalition, said around 5,000 protesters also assembled in Naryn, a town of 50,000 people in eastern Kyrgyzstan.

The fractious opposition has struggled to seize the political initiative in recent years, and its fortunes have suffered as numerous prominent politicians have faced a raft of criminal prosecutions or fled abroad, claiming intimidation at the hands of the authorities.

In a resolution adopted at the Bishkek rally, Social Democratic faction leader Rosa Otunbayeva was named head of the united opposition coalition.

Otunbayeva, a Western-leaning former foreign minister, recently appealed to the U.S. government to take a more active interest in Kyrgyzstan’s declining democratic standards. Kyrgyzstan hosts a U.S. air base serving as a supply and transit point for operations in Afghanistan.

The only government official present at the meeting, human rights ombudsman Tursunbek Akunov, said he was concerned by the authorities’ inability to address rising tensions in the country.

“Discontent among the people is very high and the government’s actions have led to this situation,” he said.

The protests are taking place against a backdrop of worsening conditions for the independent media.

In a statement Tuesday, U.S watchdog group Freedom House expressed concern over a spate of recent government moves that have hindered the work of independent media outlets in Kyrgyzstan. That charge is denied by government officials.

Most Kyrgyz people rely on state-controlled broadcasters as their main source of news, but those stations have failed to cover a series of recent protests.