Kyrgyzstan protests are a criminal coup, claims leadership
Protests sweeping Kyrgyzstan are part of a “coup” designed by criminals, President Askar Akayev’s spokesman said today .
“The third force, criminal elements connected to the drug mafia, are in complete control of the situation in Osh and Jalal-Abad, and are struggling to gain power,” said presidential spokesman Abdil Segizbayev, referring to two southern towns that have seen riots in the past few days.
He called the protests “a putsch and a coup” engineered by criminals. “The opposition no longer controls the situation,” he added.
He spoke in the capital Bishkek a day after opposition activists – angered over what they allege was widespread manipulation of this year’s parliamentary elections – took control of Osh, Kyrgyzstan's second city, using clubs and petrol bombs to storm government buildings, forcing police and officials to flee.
The opposition blitz in Osh and four other towns in Kyrgyzstan’s impoverished south has turned up the heat on Akayev, who has ruled the former Soviet republic in Central Asia for 15 years.
The president sought to stem the mounting tide of protests by ordering a probe into the vote-rigging allegations, but the emboldened opposition vowed to press on to force Akayev to leave office.
