Mon, Mar 28, 2005 - Page 1 News List

Dueling parliaments vie for power in Kyrgyzstan

CHAOTIC SITUATION Although order has been mostly restored to the streets of the capital Bishkek, two sets of lawmakers jostled to hold sessions in the same building

AP , BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN

They planned their own session for later yesterday, but as in previous sessions, they were relegated to a modest room, resembling a school classroom.

On the streets of the capital, the mass disorder that followed Akayev's ouster appeared to have subsided, with police and volunteers with red armbands claiming success after a relatively quiet night in their fight against the looting that left Bishkek's main street a line of boarded up and shuttered stores.

"For the most part, there was none of the mass disorder, but there were still enough reports of theft at smaller stores and offices and a sharp increase in car thefts to say that our work continues," a duty officer at the Interior Ministry's press service said. He declined to give his name.

Three people were killed in the capital overnight, he said. The circumstances of the deaths were under investigation, but at least one of the victims appeared to have been a "pillager," he said. In a single Bishkek district, five cars were stolen, an unprecedented number, police said.

Interior Ministry officers suspect the cars were stolen by looters eager to take their booty home.

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