 Several gunshots were fired in Kyrgyzstan's capital on Thursday as fighting broke out between supporters of President Askar Akayev and protesters demanding his resignation, a Reuters witness said. Reuters correspondent Dmitry Solovyov said hundreds of Akayev supporters, carrying sticks and home-made shields, had waded into a crowd of over 10,000 protesters gathered on Bishkek's main Ala Too square. "There is a fight going on with sticks and stones between thousands of people," Solovyov said. "It's volatile and people are running in all directions, chasing each other with sticks and stones." Solovyov heard several gunshots but said it was not possible to identify who had fired them. Police looked on as pandemonium broke out on the square, near Akayev's heavily-guarded White House headquarters. The opposition demonstrators, many wearing pink and yellow arm bands which are rapidly becoming the colors of anti-Akayev protest, subsequently repelled the president's supporters.
| Ahah! They finally found a color! Now it should work better... |
Solovyov later reported pools of blood near the main rostrum from which former prime minister Kurmanbek Bakiev and other opposition leaders had addressed the rally. The square was strewn with broken bottles and debris after the clashes. Earlier, demonstrators protesting over the outcome of elections in which Akayev won overwhelming control of parliament in this Central Asian state of five million marched past the White House. The building was guarded by two rings of police and interior ministry troops in full riot gear. Demonstrators, chanting "Down with Akayev," marched passed the building without attempting to breach the security cordon. |