Thousands of grieving, angry mourners flooded Bishkek's main square yesterday to honor victims of Kyrgyzstan's revolt, with many blaming the country’s absent president for ordering troops to fire on those protesting his government.
They gathered on the sprawling Ala-Too Square, where protesters were shot dead at an opposition rally as some stormed the main government building in the central Asian nation.
The health ministry said yesterday that 76 people had died in the violence and more than 1,400 were injured. That figure included 67 people injured overnight on Thursday and early yesterday in clashes between looters and security forces backed by vigilantes.
Roza Otunbayeva, a former foreign minister who once backed Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and now leads the opposition interim government, visited a Bishkek hospital yesterday and said she and her comrades would not negotiate with Bakiyev, who has fled to the country's south where he has substantial clan support.
Otunbayeva said the provisional government had control over the armed forces and would do everything it could to prevent a civil war.
“[Bakiyev's] forces are not preparing to surrender. You can see how many incidents of violence there are around the city orchestrated by their side, by Bakiyev's supporters,” she said.
“We have information that there were several bombs planted in three public places in Bishkek,” Otunbayeva told reporters.
Russia is the only world power to have recognized Otunbayeva's government and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was quick to offer aid to the new rulers, who said the country's former Soviet master had helped oust Bakiyev.
The uprising was sparked by discontent over corruption, nepotism and rising utility prices.
In the square, people were sobbing for the lives lost.
“We grieve over our heroes. They are real heroes who have sacrificed their lives for the future of Kyrgyzstan,” said Khatima Immamaliyeva, a 44-year-old office worker holding a red carnation and crying. “Bakiyev must bear responsibility for the deaths.”
The new Kyrgyz prosecutor said he would open a criminal case against Bakiyev's son Maxim, who heads a Kyrgyz investment agency, and his two brothers.
“We have testimonial evidence that these people had given orders to shoot against civilians,” said Baitemir Ibrayev, the new general prosecutor.
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