Protesters Storm Kyrgyz Supreme Court

To evict protesters…

Witnesses in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek says hundreds of people have stormed the country’s Supreme Court.

They say Kyrgyz security forces are on the scene after the crowd burst into the building early Wednesday to evict protesters who had occupied the Supreme Court since April.

RFE/RL has more on the story. The protesters who were already occupying the court have been there since April to demand the resignation of Chairman Kurmanbek Osmonov and the rest of Akayev’s appointees. They are supporters of parliamentary candidates from the last election disqualified by the courts.

The protesters in the court seem to believe that Bakiyev and Osmonov were behind the protest.

Umaraliyeva said that some of those in the crowd who evicted her and the others from the Supreme Court today are relatives of Osmonov. She also charged that the eviction had the support of top officials in the new government that replaced Akaev and is headed by acting President and Prime Minister Kurmanbek Bakiev.

“It’s clear that Kurmanbek Ergeshavich [Osmonov] is not alone here, that there are certain forces backing him who are in the government, who are sitting in the [Kyrgyz] White House, and it’s obvious that they organized [today's storming of the building].”

Police have now secured the building and cleared it of all protesters.

Personally, I can’t say I’m too terribly sympathetic to either side on this one. The protesters in the building certainly have a valid grievance, but there’s something to be said for accepting Kyrgyzstan’s part-way revolution and letting the government try to do its job. And throwing molotov cocktails and rocks is never cool. I guess if anything, this is another sign that Kyrgyzstan’s revolution hasn’t entirely answered the demands of everyone who took part in it.

Kudos to the police for stepping in and separating the two sides. One doesn’t get the impression they did from the RFE/RL story, but Reuters says otherwise.