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Protesters seize mayor’s office in Bishkek

The demonstrators won a six-hour battle seizing the parliament building and releasing former President Almazbek Atambayev, who had been in a detention center

BISHKEK, October 6. /TASS/. Protesters challenging the outcome of parliamentary polls in Kyrgyzstan seized the mayor’s office in Bishkek, the city’s mayor, Aziz Surakmatov, told 24.kg news agency on Tuesday.

On Monday morning, members of two parties, which lost the October 4 parliamentary elections, staged a protest in Bishkek’s central square. Later they were joined by supporters of other defeated political forces and by the evening their number reached 5,000-6,000.

In the evening, law enforcement agents started using stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse protesters. The demonstrators won a six-hour battle seizing the parliament building and releasing former President Almazbek Atambayev, who had been in a detention center of the State Committee for National Security since August 2019.

President Sooronbay Jeenbekov’s whereabouts are unknown, although his spokesman claimed that the leader was in the capital.