"Come out and talk to the people or we'll storm the building," a woman bellowed through a loudspeaker outside the parliament in Bishkek on Monday as crowds gathered to express fury at the vanishing results of their revolution.
Just four days after mass demonstrations at rigged elections ended in the ouster of Kyrgyzstan's president Askar Akayev, the besmirched new parliament has convened with the blessing of the country's new leaders -- much to the dismay of the public at large.
"We've been betrayed," said Bishkek resident Timur, one of around 200 people who alternately bickered and scuffled with a security cordon of police and volunteers as they tried to gain access to the parliament building.
The opposition's triumphant ascent to power last Thursday became quickly ensnared in constitutional red tape and in-fighting as its main figures carve up power and try to find some semblance of legality in recent events.
To the anger of rank-and-file supporters, it was decided to let the contested new parliament officiate, despite a ruling by the Supreme Court on Saturday that the old parliament could stay on until presidential elections on June 26.
Were it not for the danger of a renewal of disturbances that killed and injured scores of people in the past eight days, the situation might be comical: Self-righteous members of two parliaments roam the corridors of one building, both laying claim to offices and furniture.
"We just ignore them," said old parliament member Dzhanysh Rustenbekov as he and colleagues in the upper house convened in one hall and the new unicameral parliament in another.
His house must be left to serve through summer, he believes.
"We must listen to what the people want. After all, the protests started because those elections were dirty," he said.
In speeches in their house, members of the new parliament appeared willing to seek a compromise but were clearly concerned at their fragile position.
"All of this is a result of [Akayev's] policies over the past 14 years -- now the genie has burst out of the bottle," said deputy Kubatbek Baibolov.
According to Rustenbekov, there has been no guidance on resolving the bizarre stand-off from acting Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the opposition leader who the old parliament appointed in Akayev's place after Thursday's events.
Bakiyev is understandably reluctant to turn his back on the same parliamentary line-up that stood by him last Thursday after a mob of supporters seized the White House building and opened his way as Akayev's successor.
But his new security chief Felix Kulov, a former deputy president under Akayev, has no such qualms.
Although opposition supporters freed him last week from jail where he was serving a lengthy sentence on corruption charges, he has thrown his weight behind the new parliament as the only legitimate assembly.
The question now is whether the leadership will respond to demands for new parliamentary elections after presidential polls on June 26, or risk fresh protests by leaving the new members in their seats.
Kyrgyzstan's acting central election commission chief on Thursday added fuel to the flames by giving a clean bill of health to all but "12 or 13" of the results of voting in 75 constituencies in the elections on February 27 and March 13.
In the commission's view, the elections should only be repeated in areas where cases of fraud had been confirmed, Tuigunaali Abdraimov said.
"Because of these breaches of law we cannot paralyze the legitimate authorities," he told reporters.
He and other officials at all levels and with often conflicting loyalties wave copies of the constitution as they make their case.
The work naturally does not include exact provisions for a "post-rebellion" settlement and most arguments can be faulted.
But perhaps more importantly in the end, the finer points of the law are of little concern to irate citizens who turned out in their thousands last week to topple Akayev's corrupt regime.
In a sign that patience is already waning, citizens' initiative groups on Thursday submitted written demands to the new leadership and both houses for fresh presidential and parliamentary elections, as well as popular selection of the Central Election Commission and Supreme Court.
"If they don't meet our demands, the people will rise again," said Adylbek Kasimov, who with 16 other representatives of different regions of the republic handed over a list of points.
Another member of the old parliament, Tazhinaisa Abdurasulova, saw explosive potential in the vacuum left after Akayev's departure as public dissatisfaction swells again.
"Those who took power forgot the people as they sat down and started dividing up the ministerial portfolios," she said.
Meanwhile, many people suspect the deposed president may be watching from his current exile in Russia, waiting for a decisive rift in the new leadership before trying to make a comeback.
"He never resigned, so he has the right," Bishkek journalist Elvira Saviyeva said.
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