Shit Hits Fan

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

At Least 10 Die as Conflict Erupts in Restive Uzbek Area

By STEVEN LEE MYERS

Published: May 14, 2005

 

MOSCOW, May 13 - Gunmen attacked police posts and stormed a prison in eastern Uzbekistan early Friday morning, unleashing a day of protest, chaos and violence that left at least 10 people dead and dozens more wounded, according to news reports, official accounts and one participant who claimed to be joining an uprising against the government of President Islam A. Karimov.

 

Gunmen attacked police posts and stormed a prison in eastern Uzbekistan, unleashing a day of protest, chaos and violence that left at least 10 people dead and dozens more wounded. After less than 18 hours, government soldiers took positions at the central square of the city of Andijon and then opened fire on protesters.

 

As soldiers moved in to restore government control to the center of Andijon, a woman with a child walked by the scene of a confrontation.

Less than 18 hours after the violence erupted, government soldiers moved in and opened fire on an estimated 5,000 protesters who had occupied the central square of Andijon, a city in the restive Fergana Valley, where Islamic and antigovernment sentiment has long simmered, the reports said.

 

The protesters included some of the hundreds of prisoners freed by the gunmen. Some reports cited much higher death tolls - with dozens killed - but those were impossible to verify immediately.

 

The Associated Press and Reuters, citing witness accounts from their correspondents, reported that at least one person had died in the shooting on the square and that several others had been wounded as panicked protesters fled bursts of gunfire and the thudding chop of helicopters hovering overhead.

 

[On Saturday, The AP said one of its reporters had counted 23 dead, all of whom had been shot. A witness said "many, many dead bodies" were stacked up by a school.]

 

By nightfall troops loyal to Mr. Karimov's government had gained control of the square, according to news reports from the city, which cited government officials. The government also said it had retaken the mayor's office, which the gunmen seized after storming the prison, but it was not clear what had happened to at least a dozen hostages they had captured. Gunfire was reported in the city for hours afterward.

 

The protesters accused the government of political repression and said they wanted more freedoms and economic opportunities.

 

The government announced earlier on Friday that 9 people had died and 34 had been wounded in the initial violence. It said that "an armed group of criminals" had attacked the city's police and military posts and stormed its prison shortly after midnight.

 

The gunmen and freed prisoners were then joined in the central square by as many as 5,000 protesters in what appeared to be a spontaneous demonstration of support. Several cars and buildings, including a theater, were set ablaze.

 

"We will resist to the end," Sharif Shakirov, 33, one of the protesters inside the mayor's office, said in a telephone interview before the building and the square were convulsed by gunfire and chaos. He said the assailants had seized weapons in the initial attacks and would seek to expand their uprising. He could not be reached again.

 

The violence on Friday followed several peaceful protests over the prosecution of 23 businessmen in Andijon accused of fomenting Islamic extremism, the latest in what critics of the government and international organizations call a harsh crackdown against opponents.

 

The violence was the worst since a wave of suicide attacks and shootings killed more than 40 people in the capital, Tashkent, in March and April of last year. It raised new concerns about the political stability of Uzbekistan, the most populous of the former Soviet republics in Central Asia and a regional ally of the United States and the Bush administration's counterterrorism policies.

 

In Washington, the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, called on both sides to use restraint. "The people of Uzbekistan want to see a more representative and democratic government," Mr. McClellan said at a press briefing, "but that should come through peaceful means, not through violence." He added: "We have had concerns about human rights in Uzbekistan, but we are concerned about the outbreak of violence, particularly by some members of a terrorist organization that were freed from prison."

 

The attackers of the police posts and the prison appeared to have been well armed and organized. Among those freed were the 23 businessmen, who were arrested last year and charged with membership in banned religious organizations and distribution of extremist literature.

 

Two of them were brothers of Mr. Shakirov, the protester inside the mayor's office. The protests that massed on the square, he said, reflected "dissatisfaction with government policy and today's life."

 

Melissa Hooper, an American lawyer in Tashkent who has worked with the defendants' lawyers and followed the case closely, said it was more about economics than religion.

 

The 23 businessmen are followers of Akramia, an organization entwining religious beliefs and business pursuits and named for its founder, Akram Yuldashev, an Islamic dissident now in prison. They include some of Andijon's most prominent business owners and employers.

 

"This is more about them acquiring economic clout, and perhaps refusing to pay off the local authorities, than about any religious beliefs," Ms. Hooper said.

 

The convulsion in Uzbekistan follows the political upheaval in March in nearby Kyrgyzstan, where regional protests against disputed parliamentary elections swiftly spread to the capital and forced the country's president, Askar Akayev, to flee.

 

Kyrgyzstan's uprising raised hopes and fears that democratic movements were spreading, but Mr. Karimov, who has ruled Uzbekistan with an authoritarian hand, showed little hesitation before using force.

 

Although an unknown number of gunmen managed to seize important buildings and much of Andijon's center, Mr. Karimov's government quickly sealed off the city, surrounded it with troops in armored vehicles and put down the demonstration before it could gain momentum.

 

The government also shut down local broadcasts of foreign television news networks. Uzbek state television reported little. In a sign of heightened tensions, the police shot and killed a man outside the Israeli Embassy in Tashkent, evidently mistaking him for a suicide bomber.

 

"The fighters have women, children and other hostages as shields and have not agreed to a compromise to solve the conflict," said a government statement released by the official press agency, UzA, and read on state television before soldiers opened fire in the square.

 

Mr. Karimov was reported to have traveled to Andijon, but he did not make any public statements about Friday's events. Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, another neighboring country, closed their borders.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/14/internat...14uzbek.html?hp

 

Nobody deserves to be overthrown more than this asshat Karimov--our buddy in the War on TERRA~! This guy has boiled political opponents alive and had them beaten to death. However, we have Karimov & even WH Press Secretary McClellan labeling the rebels as "terrorists." I'll tell you what, McClellan, those people aren't terrorists any more than the WH's BUTT buddy Karimov is. We also have a military base in Uzbek and over 1,000 troops there.

 

[The Czech Republic 0]

Sharif Shakirov

This is my new name.

[Celtic Guardian 0]

Welcome to the inevitable contradiction in American foreign policy where the U.S. uses the war on terrorism to promote democracy while aligning with tinpot thugs to win that war.

 

As per usual though, this won't be noticed much on American television where the news people don't know how to pronounce Uzbekistan, never mind report on it.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

He looks like a cross between Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot.

[bob_barron 0]

Tashkent Uzbekistan

Visiting Tashkent? Compare Hotel Prices & Reviews

[The Czech Republic 0]

Welcome to the inevitable contradiction in American foreign policy where the U.S. uses the war on terrorism to promote democracy while aligning with tinpot thugs to win that war.

 

As per usual though, this won't be noticed much on American television where the news people don't know how to pronounce Uzbekistan, never mind report on it.

Ooze-bekistan. But I prefer Kyrgyzstan. That's a doozy. Kurrghizzh-stan.

 

And yeah, the old Turkic SSRs get completely ignored and have been since their inception.

[cbacon 0]

The death toll is at 700 now.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

The death toll is at 700 now.

His claim could not be confirmed.