Demonstrators in yet another part of the former Soviet Union are moving swiftly to throw the rascals out:
March 24 (Bloomberg) — Protesters in Kyrgyzstan today occupied the offices of President Askar Akayev in an effort to force him to resign over allegations of election fraud, according to television footage. Akayev left the capital by helicopter, Interfax reported.
The government headquarters was ablaze after it was overrun by demonstrators, live pictures from APTN Direct showed. A protester carried a large red flag as a group fanned out through one of the buildings, APTN Direct showed in an earlier transmission. A young man sat behind the desk in an unidentified leader’s office as it was taken over by fellow protesters.
What’s clearly going on is in our closely-connected world where people can watch developments in other countries people there have a low tolerance level for political hanky panky. There is now a lower tolerance level threshold for violations of democracy’s basic tenets. They see what has happened elsewhere and think: “It CAN happen here…so let’s make it happen.” More:
The demonstrators stormed the compound in Bishkek, capital of the Central Asian republic, after overwhelming riot police who had charged the crowd on foot and on horseback earlier today. Agence France-Presse reported that Defense Minister Esen Topoyev and National Security Minister Kalyk Imankulov were blockaded in the complex, while Russia’s Interfax said the ministers were writing resignation letters.
Opposition supporters occupied government offices in southern towns to protest the March 13 run-off elections that were won by parties backing Akayev. The U.S. sent Nicholas Burns, its undersecretary for political affairs, to Bishkek this week to call on Akayev to open talks.
So note the U.S. is again underscoring its desire for the issue to be on the table with the opposition. And this:
After the takeover of the government complex, Akayev and his family left the country by helicopter on a flight to neighboring Kazakhstan, Interfax reported, citing unidentified people in Kyrgyzstan.
Even though this country’s name looks as if it’s written by someone with a broken keyboard, it’s a country to watch because opposition is demanding new parliamentary and presidential elections and claims it now controls the country’s main TV station. If it indeed controls it, then it has more power to influence than your typical opposition. Also, remember the context:
The events in Kyrgyzstan follow similar upheavals in two other former Soviet republics, Georgia and Ukraine. Former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze was pushed from power by street protests in November 2003. He was replaced by Mikhail Saakashvili, who won presidential elections in January 2004.
Last November, backers of former Ukrainian central bank chief Viktor Yushchenko occupied the center of Kiev after election observers alleged there had been fraud in the presidential election, won by Viktor Yanukovych, who promised closer ties with Russia and was openly backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Yushchenko won a new vote on Dec. 26 and took office in January.
And why should the U.S. care? Both the U.S. and Russia have bases there, set up aftere 911. The U.S. uses an air base there for its operations in Afghanistan.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.