Trouble brews in Kyrgyzstan
On October 4, Kyrgyzstan held its parliamentary elections, with 16 parties vying for 120 seats in parliament.
By IAR Desk
Some 590 people were injured in riots in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek on Monday, Russian news agency TASS reported quoting the Kyrgyz Health Ministry.
“A total of 150 of them were hospitalized,” the ministry said, noting that one patient died.
On October 4, Kyrgyzstan held its parliamentary elections, with 16 parties vying for 120 seats in parliament. According to preliminary data, none of the parties secured the majority, so they will have to form a coalition.
On Monday morning, members of two parties, which lost the parliamentary elections, staged a protest in Bishkek’s central square. Later they were joined by supporters of other defeated political forces and by the evening their number reached 5,000-6,000.
In the evening, law enforcement agents started using stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse protesters. The demonstrators won a six-hour battle seizing the parliament building and releasing former President Almazbek Atambayev, who had been in a detention center of the State Committee for National Security since August 2019.
President Sooronbay Jeenbekov’s whereabouts are unknown, although his spokesman claimed that the leader was in the capital, TASS reported.
