BISHKEK — Large-scale riots broke out Wednesday in a number of cities and regions in Kyrgyzstan, including the capital of Bishkek.
Tens of thousands of opposition supporters in the small central Asian nation took to the streets, storming government buildings, besieging and eventually taking over the Presidential Palace, occupying the Parliament Building, and violently clashing with military and police forces.
Officials said more than 60 people were killed and about 400 others were injured during the riots.
Members of the Kyrgyz opposition said the immediate cause that triggered the large-scale unrest was the government’s arrest of Bolotbek Sherniazov, a vice chairman of the opposition Ata-jurt (Fatherland) movement. On Tuesday afternoon, about 1,500 demonstrators besieged and then took over the state government building in Talas, taking the governor hostage and demanded the release of Sherniazov.
The government immediately dispatched a large number of police officers, who drove the crowds out of government buildings and freed the governor.
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