Riot police in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek used water cannon, stun grenades and tear gas to disperse protesters at a rally against the results of a parliamentary vote late Monday.
Dozens of demonstrators scaled gates guarding the house of government after thousands gathered to protest the results of Sunday’s vote that was marked by allegations of vote-buying and left two parties close to President Sooronbay Jeenbekov dominating the parliament.
Police repulsed the protesters’ attempt to storm the seat of government and pursued them, forcing them to scatter in different directions through the capital.
Eyewitnesses told an AFP correspondent that shop owners in the vicinity of the protest had begun removing goods from their stores in anticipation of possible looting.
Looting was a feature in two popular uprisings that overthrew authoritarian presidents in 2005 and 2010, but the former Soviet country has enjoyed relative stability for the last decade.
Dissatisfaction with corruption and the domination of politics by powerful clans has increased with the economic challenges of the coronavirus fallout.
The protest led by losing parties that say they were muscled out of the legislature by the larger parties’ vote-buying campaigns saw calls for 61-year-old Jeenbekov to resign.
“Jeenbekov out, Jeenbekov out,” the crowd shouted.
The rally had previously been peaceful with popular artists from the Central Asian country singing and addressing the crowd.
Singer Mirbek Atabekov was one of several popular artists to attend the protest that began in the early afternoon and continued as the night drew in.
He told the crowd that “politicians put money above everything.”
“We came out against that,” he said, warning the crowd not to “rise to provocations.”
Birimdik and Mekenim Kyrgyzstan, two parties that favour deeper integration with Moscow, scooped a quarter of the vote each, according to the preliminary count.
Birimdik includes the president’s younger brother Asylbek Jeenbekov, while Mekenim Kyrgyzstan is seen by critics as a vehicle for the interests of a powerful clan.
