Police beat protesters, use tear gas to disperse anti-government demonstration in Kyrgyzstan

Police disperse protesters in Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Baton-wielding police clubbed their way through crowds of protesters in a provincial town in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday, firing tear gas and flash grenades to disperse an anti-government demonstration in the impoverished former Soviet nation.

The clash came after demonstrators angry over rising heat and power prices seized a government building, took a governor hostage and occupied a central square in a town west of the capital, Bishkek. Access to Internet was later cut off in the capital.

Local residents of Talas town told The Associated Press by telephone that police took over the square in a matter of minutes, initially overwhelming around 2,500 protesters.

But many of the demonstrators returned to the square to hurl stones and Molotov cocktails at police, setting fire to police cars and bringing chaos to the town of about 30,000.

During a visit to the country on Saturday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon repeatedly criticized Kyrgyzstan for human rights problems, a strong rebuke to the country once regarded as former Soviet Central Asia’s “island of democracy.”

Nationwide rallies are planned on Wednesday, and analysts said the unrest could spread.

The government warned of “severe” repercussions, and the main opposition party said U.S. and Russian diplomats should urged the government to refrain from violence.

In Talas, it was unclear if there were injuries or arrests, and the fate of the governor, Bolotbek Beishenbekov, who locals say had been locked in a room in a government office by protesters who had seized the building, was not known.

Earlier, more than 1,000 locals stormed the building, opposition politicians and local activists said. Large crowds assembled at other spots around the town, witnesses said. The protesters encircled Beishenbekov who was outside the building, taking him hostage, according to an opposition activist.

“People spontaneously captured him and locked him in one of the offices” in the government building, opposition activist Bolot Sherniyazov told AP on the phone.

Witnesses said some 500 people had gathered at the local police station in Talas throwing Molotov cocktails at President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s portraits. Protesters said security forces used tear gas and fired gunshots into air to disperse the crowd.

A correspondent for the local affiliate of U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Talas said one person was shot with a rubber bullet fired from inside the police precinct.

Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov said about 100 policemen had been dispatched to Talas, which is a six-hour drive west of the capital, Bishkek, as backup.

“I urge the organizers of these actions to desist from what they are doing. For those that do not listen, measures will be severe,” Usenov said. He said there would be no curfew.

Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous country of 5 million people, hosts a U.S. air base that supports military operations in neighboring Afghanistan and serves as an important transit point for coalition troops and supplies.

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.

Over the past two years, Kyrgyz authorities have clamped down on free media, and opposition activists say they have routinely been subjected to physical intimidation and targeted by politically motivated criminal investigations.

Anti-government forces have been in disarray until recently, but widespread anger over soaring utility bills has galvanized the fractious opposition.