Looks like there are a bunch of protests and riots popping up across Kyrgyzstan right now. Stemming from some protests the other day in Talas, where protesters took over the government building or something. Police have fired on protesters in Bishkek, with at least several deaths confirmed the last I heard. Strange following this stuff from here in Almaty, with Bishkek only about a 3-4 hour(supposedly) drive away.
Decent summary in english of the current state of things from Al Jazeera
Lots of stuff getting posted to Twitter under the hashtag #freekg
(not sure what the livejournal links people are posting to have on them… forgot lj is blocked from Kazakhstan)
I work on the Transit Center at the airport. We are getting reports from friends and family downtown. Basically looting and rioting. The oposition got hold of police weapons at some point. Have not checked in with people downtown for awhile, but last we heard the white house is down, and many other goverment buildings are on fire. They went out and looted the old presidents house. There was a curfew in effect, but it is not being enforced, or followed.
One of the local news stations got taken (or threw in with the protesters), and was showing live feeds from downtown most of the day. Sometime around midnight they had a truck driving around the city showing live video.
This started Tuesday in Talas. They burnt down the local police station, and attacked the govenors place up there. Wendsday morning crowds starting showing up in Bishkek. We heard unconfirmed reports of rioting in other cities as well.
Hoping I can get home sometime today to see what my apt. building looks like.
The Tulip Revolution was in 2005, and was when President Kurmanbek Bakiyev took over. The aniversery for that was last week. There were elections last year, and alot of the opposition to Bakiyev disapeared, had “accidents”, etc. Recently they increased the price of electricity by alot (300 - 500%). Unemployment is very high. Bakiyev and his clan ran the goverment, and were supposedly stealing cash.
The new temporary goverment is saying they are going to rule for 6 months, and setup a real election.
The opposition that is now in charge is actually several seperate groups who all have their own goals. Basically all of them want lower electric rates, less corruption, and the US out of the country.
There was a twitter feed I had open earlier that was reporting on stuff downtown. Reporting all the grocery stores are empty, banks are empty, malls are being looted. Businesses that had ties to Bakiyev are being burned down.
We got another hour or so of curfew that we are following even if nobody else is. Then we get to find out if roads are open, and if it is safe to travel.
0:22 in – Rioter has good finger control, go him (yes, I think this is important to comment on, because it shows some level of self control among the guys with guns – which is important).
Jeeeze, those police sprinted for the hills. I don’t think the police in my area are even capable of moving that fast.
Stay safe, Ontax. I wish you the best of luck.
Edit: And why do they want the USA out? Is it “USA=EVIL” or are we somehow fucking things up in your country?
Just to clear up. I am a US citizien that just works here. I am not a Kyrgyz national. I don’t speak Russian, but know people that are translating some of the local stories for me. I have lived here for about a year. I live about 6 blocks from where most of the photos online were taken. I was up in that area on Tuesday, and nothing was out of place. We drove a few blocks away from there on the way in to work Wendsday morning, and while it was still dark I didn’t notice anything then either. At that time the protests were in other cities.
As to why they want us out there are several reasons. First is the guy that was shot at the front gate a few years ago. It was reported by us that he had a knife, and attacked the guards, but the local investigation said he did not have a knife. They wanted him to be tried in a local court, but we refused. Second is that the farmers around the base claim we dump fuel from the aircraft over their fields ruining their crops, and that the noise of all the aircraft bother their animals. Also because Bakiyev supported us, and he is corrupt we must be. Finally this is an old Russian state, and alot of the population are Russian. There have been a few “news” stories about how we are secretly spying on Kyrgyzstan, and that being a Transit Center is just a cover.
A little more background. Last year Bakiyev gave us 6 months to close the base. Rumors was that Russia paid him to kick us out. About 45 days before the deadline he signed a new lease with the US. Again rumor is that Russia reneged on the payment, or that he is trying to get money from both sides.
Bakiyev has not given up. Reports on the news is that he flew to the south part of the country, and is setting up to take back the capital. I don’t know anything about the military he might be able to call on. There is a Russian air base in a nearby city, and the opposition was trying to get them to come in on their side, and supply equipment. Neither the US or Russia has acknologed the opposition as a vaild goverment.
Also as someone said the rioters have AKs. Check the link below(some graphic content) specifically photo 15 then 33. They took a RPG from a soldier. Along with a sniper rifle, and military trucks.
Apparently the latest news is that protesters have been gathering down in Osh (which is supposedly where Bakiev had gone to)*. And looks like the Kazakh-Kyrgyz border may be closed.
In regards to wanting the US out, I’m seeing some people saying that the opposition isn’t demanding that the US leave. There’s a live-blog of some of the things going on here:
That press conference would be going on right now (11:30am here in Almaty), so I guess there’ll be some more news on the opposition’s intentions coming shortly.
Just as I was about to post I saw someone on twitter saying “Just heard from local sources that people in Osh and Jalalabad have elected new governors”
Most people have, in school, heard of most countries as they were when they were in school.
However, Kyrgyzstan has only been “Kyrgyzstan” for the last two decades, no? Before that it was Kirghiz SSR. Personally, if it was left to school alone I wouldn’t know what Kyrgyzstan was. The only reason I know anything about it is because of research after I finished high school, on my own time, in regards to the collapse of the USSR (an interesting debate I had with a friend of mine as to whether the world was a “Safer” or “more stable” place following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and whether it could’ve been handled differently, given the facts we had at the time).
Desert Nomad, the only reason I even knew that Kyrgyzstan existed was that I was supposed to do an independent study on Central Asia in college. (The project ended up getting cancelled, but I still did the preparatory research.)
Tell me, if I hadn’t had this project, how would the affairs of a small, landlocked country with an unpronouncable name have ever come to my attention? Kyrgyszstan has some strategic import now, due to its proximity to Afghanistan - but it has few natural resources, hosts no terror groups of particular concern to the US, and has produced no literary or artistic works that garnered mainstream reknown in the Western world. Nor even political activists of note - quick, name a famous Kyrgyz democracy activist! Who’s Kyrgyzstan’s Lech Walesa?
There are lots of small, poor countries - I can’t fault my fellow USAians too much for not knowing this one.
I can’t name any well known Kyrgyz, but I could tell you Bishkek is the capital, that it was formerly called Frunze and that Osh is another large city there. It just baffles me that this is not common. If I hear a news story about Burundi (to pick a country at random), I at least know the capital city and the neighboring countries… I find it weird when others don’t. Maybe I’m weird.
With all due respect, you travel around the world on a regular basis. You’ve been to North Korea. You already know that you are an outlier among Americans with regard to the rest of the world. Of course you’re weird.
I’m not sure what’s so great about knowing details about Kyrgyzstan. I know that it is a country, and I can spend ten minutes with the wiki article soaking up enough factoids to at least sound knowledgable. Meantime, I’m surrounded by people who lack interest in such crucial historical information as which comic featured the last appearance of the Golden Age Joker. I had to fix that wiki page because some ignoramus troglodyte had it occuring in a 1981 issue of Wonder Woman, when it was actually a 1983 issue of The Brave and the Bold. Shocking!
Less flippantly, I figure being intelligent/educated doesn’t require that you’ve memorized a huge variety of facts, but that you’re aware of the tools and resources needed to acquire such facts as needed, and how to apply critically-thinking in skimming out the crap.
