 The opposition in Kyrgyzstan says it has taken control of the capital Bishkek after overrunning the president's palace, the White House. Protesters fought running battles with supporters of President Askar Akayev before flooding government offices. Mr Akayev's whereabouts are unknown. They also took over state TV and announced the government had fallen.
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Unconfirmed reports say the imprisoned Kyrgyz opposition leader Felix Kulov has been freed. Mr Kulov was once Mr Akayev's vice president, before he was jailed in 2000 under embezzlement charges. At the palace - also the seat of government - police opposition melted away as hundreds of protesters flooded into the compound, waving a flag from a second floor window and scattering documents. Officials were seen fleeing by the back door.
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Mr Akayev's whereabouts were unknown, but there was speculation he was talking to officials from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe in the outskirts of Bishkek. "He is most likely in the OSCE mission. There is nowhere else he can be now," former foreign minister and opposition figure Muratbek Imanaliyev told the Russian government news agency Ria. An OSCE spokesman in Bishkek denied the reports.
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Until now the state television channel has not covered the growing protests on the news, showing nature programmes instead. But unidentified people appeared on Kyrgyz TV for a special news bulletin at 1700 (1200 GMT) announcing that power had passed to the opposition and government leaders had gone.
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The events in the capital follow growing unrest in the south. The protests were sparked by disputed elections in February, and a second round on 13 March, which saw the opposition reduced to just a handful of seats in the 75-member parliament. The unrest in Kyrgyzstan, a poor and mountainous country which is seen as strategically important, is being stoked by its economic problems and alleged government corruption. The protests have drawn comparisons with two other former Soviet states, Georgia and Ukraine, where popular uprisings toppled the government.
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Protesters were also reported to have taken over a government building in the south-western city of Batken, the third major city in the south where protesters have taken control. BBC Central Asia correspondent Monica Whitlock said the demonstration in Bishkek grew rapidly from a few hundred people to as many as 10,000. Reporters said Akayev loyalists wearing civilian clothes with blue armbands chased protesters away, before the demonstrators returned and fought back. Reuters correspondent Dmitry Solovyov said: "It's volatile and people are running in all directions, breaking each other's bones chasing each other with sticks and stones." He said he heard several gunshots but could not say who had fired them. Russia expressed concern over the unfolding crisis. Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov urged calm, saying: "We wouldn't like to see force prevail as a method of resolving the conflict." |