Kyrgyzstan!

Gezundheit.

Excerpts:

At least 10,000 pro-democracy protesters stormed a police station and forced workers to flee a governor's office in Kyrgyzstan on Sunday, a government spokesman said, in the biggest demonstration since allegedly fraudulent elections last month.

The government said it was ready to negotiate with the protesters who have demanded President Askar Akayev's resignation.

"We hope there will be no further violence," presidential aide Abdil Seghizbayev said.

Opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev said talks would only be possible if Akayev himself sits down at negotiating table.

"All other lower level negotiations will be just a waste of time," he said.

Police fled to the roof of their station, firing shots into the air to deter the stone-throwing protesters in the southern city of Jalal-Abad, regional government spokesman Orazaly Karasartov said...

The riot was the latest in a string of nationwide protests sparked by the Feb. 27 parliamentary elections in which President Akayev's allies fared overwhelmingly well. Critics claim the vote and a subsequent runoff election were marred by widespread abuses.

Europe and the United States said the polls were seriously flawed, a charge denied by the government.

Sunday's riot came a day after police forcibly evicted demonstrators from the governor's office in Jalal-Abad and another government building in the city of Osh. More than a dozen people, including three police officers, were injured and more than 200 demonstrators were arrested, police and civic activists said.

Protesters were still occupying five other state buildings in southern and western districts.


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