Kyrgyzstan's president, under pressure from mass opposition protests for his resignation, said yesterday that authorities had uncovered evidence the opposition was plotting to seize control of key state buildings.
As hundreds resumed their protests after an overnight vigil outside parliament, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said audio transcript showed protest organizers and some non-governmental agencies had discussed seizing state TV, the main presidency and government building, and SNB state security headquarters.
"Let's not get overtaken by emotion. There is no threat here. There are no forces to carry out a coup. But there are intentions. There is proof," Bakiyev told parliament.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of the Central Asian capital on Thursday demanding the resignation of Bakiyev who they say has backtracked on promises of democratic reforms.
Bakiyev's opponents have staged frequent protests since he was swept to power in a coup last year. They say his administration is corrupt and he has backtracked on promises to share more power with parliament and push through reforms.
After a lengthy standoff with the opposition-dominated parliament, Bakiyev agreed this week to alter the Constitution to water down his powers and hand more influence to parliament.
Opposition leaders laughed off Bakiyev's charges they had been planning to seize key state buildings.
Edil Baisalov, head of the Coalition of Democracy and Civil Society and also a member of the opposition For Reform! movement which has been running the protests, said: "We have shown our peaceful nature ... the For Reform! movement will only use peaceful and non-violent means."
Bakiyev spoke in conciliatory tones, saying he wanted the judicial system to deal with the allegations. But he added: "Politicians who are speaking of constitutional reform should not act like this."
The prime minister told an evening television debate "any attempt to destabilize the situation, I tell you with authority now, will be resolutely stopped."
Bakiyev was elected president after his predecessor, Askar Akayev, fled the country following violent protests against a flawed parliamentary election.
Bakiyev's control of the country has been fragile from the outset, raising the possibility he could suffer a similar fate to Akayev if protests continue. But the parliamentary opposition lined up against him is itself riven by division.
"On the whole, I believe there are no grounds for concern, for people to be worried ... Frankly speaking, all we have here is a fight for power," Bakiyev said in a Thursday television interview.
Bakiyev told parliament he would present the new Constitution on Monday that would define the responsibilities of the president and those of the parliament.
The opposition has vowed to occupy the square until the adoption of the reforms, which will deny the president the right to nominate the government and to dissolve parliament.
Approximately 500 police officers continued to stand guard near the main government building on the main square, which houses the presidency and the government.
Most businesses in the city center were closed, as owners feared the protests would degenerate into scenes of looting similar to those that characterized the revolution that toppled Akayev.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
Russian hackers last year targeted a Dutch public facility in the first such an attack on the lowlands country’s infrastructure, its military intelligence services said on Monday. The Netherlands remained an “interesting target country” for Moscow due to its ongoing support for Ukraine, its Hague-based international organizations, high-tech industries and harbors such as Rotterdam, the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) said in its yearly report. Last year, the MIVD “saw a Russian hacker group carry out a cyberattack against the digital control system of a public facility in the Netherlands,” MIVD Director Vice Admiral Peter Reesink said in the 52-page
RSS