Thousands of Kyrgyz interim government supporters turn out to retake regional headquarters

Kyrgyz gov’t supporters try to retake offices

OSH, Kyrgyzstan — Thousands of Kyrgyz interim government supporters launched simultaneous attempts Friday to retake two regional official buildings occupied by backers of deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

In the city of Osh, hundreds of people ejected a crowd that had taken the regional government headquarters a day earlier. But a similar attempt at the Jalal-Abad government office was thwarted when men inside the compound fired gunshots into the air.

Both cities are in Kyrgyzstan’s south, the power base for Bakiyev, who was ousted April 7 amid clashes in the capital between government forces and protesters that left at least 85 people dead.

The prospect of further disturbances in the Central Asian nation will cause alarm in Washington and Moscow, which both have military bases in Kyrgyzstan.

In Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s No. 2 city, hundreds of people broke into the governor’s office Thursday afternoon to demand the return of former Gov. Mamasadyk Bakirov, a Bakiyev loyalist who lost his post after the April revolt.

The pro-Bakiyev crowd held the building until the arrival of a large group of people, many of them young men and middle-aged women wearing blue armbands — the color of interim Prime Minister Roza Otunbayeva’s Social-Democrat party.

The groups threw rocks at one another, then Bakiyev adherents fled the building.

In Jalal-Abad, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) from Osh, the situation remained tense in the early afternoon.

Around 200 Bakiyev supporters, some with automatic rifles, were holed up in the government building. A column of about 4,000 backers of the Ata-Meken party, which supports the interim government, arrived to try to evict the occupiers, but quickly dispersed amid the gunfire.

Several hundred Ata-Meken activists, armed with guns and sticks, remained on the square near the government building as party representatives delivered speeches from a rostrum.

An Associated Press reporter saw at least three injured people, but it was not clear to which side they belonged.

While the provisional authorities are struggling to restore control over the entire country, the overwhelming number of interim government backers in Friday’s clashes indicate they enjoy considerable popular support.

Despite concerns that anti-government protests might also be held in the capital, Bishkek, there were no signs of disturbances by Friday afternoon.

Outside parliament, about 400 Ata-Meken supporters rallied in support of the government, while other party activists marched around the city waving red flags.

Associated Press writer Peter Leonard in Bishkek contributed to this report.