One killed as Uzbek soldiers fire on protestors

ANDIJAN, Uzbekistan - At least one person was killed and five were wounded Friday when Uzbek soldiers opened fire on a square full of demonstrators in the city of Andijan, an AFP correspondent at the scene saw.

Soldiers fired in all directions, both in the air and at the crowd of about 5,000, as they drove in a lorry through the town's central square.

The crowd, which was demonstrating against President Islam Karimov's government, fled in panic. At least one person could be seen killed and five wounded.

---

Overnight at least nine people were killed and 34 wounded in the city, when rebels attacked public buildings and a jail to free prisoners being tried on Islamic extremism charges. Supporters have described the charges as trumped up.

Turkish Press

http://www.zaman.com/?bl=hotnews&alt=&trh=20050513&hn=19464

In the eastern part of Uzbekistan, rebels have taken over the administration of the city of Andijan and the surrounding region.

A human rights organization called "Appelatsia" told the French news agency, Agency France Press (AFP), that the rebels have taken over the administration of the region and stormed a prison and freed the inmates after four months of peaceful demonstrations.

Appelatsia official Faicahon Zaynobidinov has confirmed the take over, but no one yet knows who controls the city. Nearly 2,000 prisoners were freed, and a movie theatre and a theatre were set on fire.

President Islam Karimov's office is quoted as saying some security officers were killed overnight and the President is reported to be travelling to the region.

Islam Karimov is ruthless dictator and quite insane, supported - of course - by UK and US, which has military bases in Uzbekistan.

Rebels are islamists, who want to depose the dictator and to establish islamic state.

Russia says internal matter of Uzbekistan.

The protests have been against the mock trial of 30 accused "islamic terrorists", members of the banned opposition party I guess. Islamists can be "ordinary people", too.

Karimov's theoretical defenders and enforcers.
And how well prepared are the islamists for a fight?
I do think this has every chance of getting bloody.

Listen to the BBC World Service.

put this down, small numbers of dead so far, and the fire
sounded rather undisciplined. The people who live there cannot
have any delusions about what Karimov's response will be.
One has to wonder what the attitude of Karimov's neighbors
will be also.

I saw on CNNI where they said some 30 or soldiers are being held captive and the protestors had raided a Military base prior to the jailbreak and took LOTS of weapons. I would love for them to get their hands on the torturer.

SHOWER STOPS RALLY IN ANDIZHAN

MOSCOW, May 13 (RIA Novosti) - A heavy shower has stopped the rally in Andizhan (Uzbekistan) and the protesters left the square, however, shots are heard, an eyewitness of these events told RIA Novosti on the phone.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20050513/39979685.html

:puke:

Is Stalin back in charge?

Growing evidence U.S. sending prisoners to torture capital
Despite bad record on human rights, Uzbekistan is ally

Don Van Natta Jr., New York Times

Sunday, May 1, 2005

Seven months before Sept. 11, 2001, the State Department issued a human rights report on Uzbekistan. It was a litany of horrors.

The police repeatedly tortured prisoners, State Department officials wrote, noting that the most common techniques were "beating, often with blunt weapons, and asphyxiation with a gas mask." Separately, international human rights groups had reported that torture in Uzbek jails included boiling of body parts, using electroshock on genitals and plucking off fingernails and toenails with pliers. Two prisoners were boiled to death, the groups reported. The February 2001 State Department report stated bluntly: "Uzbekistan is an authoritarian state with limited civil rights."

Immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, however, the Bush administration turned to Uzbekistan as a partner in the global fight against terrorism. The nation, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, granted the United States the use of a military base for fighting the Taliban across the border in Afghanistan. President Bush welcomed Uzbek President Islam Karimov to the White House, and the United States has given Uzbekistan more than $500 million for border control and other security measures.

Now there is increasing evidence that the United States has sent terror suspects to Uzbekistan for detention and interrogation, even as Uzbekistan's treatment of its own prisoners continues to earn it admonishments from around the world, including from the State Department.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/05/01/MNGE5CI9MO1.DTL&feed=rss.news

13 May 2005 16:23:16 GMT
Source: Reuters

BRUSSELS, May 13 (Reuters) - The European Union blamed the government of Uzbekistan on Friday for violent protests in the east of the ex-Soviet central Asian country which left at least nine dead as troops opened fire.

"The protests are an indication of the tension built up by the government that has not paid sufficient respect to human rights, rule of law and poverty alleviation," a spokesman for the EU's executive Commission said.

"What is happening in Andizhan and Tashkent cannot be a justification for violent repression and the Uzbek government should engage further in social and political reform, in the full respect of human rights and the rule of law."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L13711182.htm

Some good comments on the BBC website:

Uzbek protest: Your reaction
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4544441.stm

This happened because you, "democratic" Western countries supported Islam Karimov. He knows that he can go to UK or USA and live there till his death without any punishment. This is you who keep the silence when you see thousands of innocently killed people!
Amir Abdulla, Almaty, Kazakhstan

I think what is going on in Uzbekistan highlights the hypocrisy of the West in its dealings with Muslim countries. The invasion of Iraq was justified after the event because we were told that a dictator had been overthrown. But we are very good friends with a much worse dictator in Uzbekistan.
Bilal Patel, London, UK

The international community should support the Uzbek people, as they did in the case of Georgia and Ukraine, to achieve their democratic rights. The world should not abandon Uzbeks by ignoring the brutal human rights violations they suffered for decades from a brutal regime.
Shamsuddin, Trissur, India

13 May 2005 16:49:39 GMT
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) - The United States called on Friday for the government of Uzbekistan and demonstrators to show restraint after Uzbek troops opened fire on a crowd protesting in support of rebels occupying a government building and holding police hostages.
"We are concerned about the outbreak of violence, particularly by some members of a terrorist organization that were freed from prison," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.
"We urge both the government and the demonstrators to exercise restraint at this time," he added. "The people of Uzbekistan want to see a more representative and democratic government, but that should come through peaceful means, not through violence."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/WBT003067.htm

The hypocrisy of this statement is unbelievable.

:puke:

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/UZBEKISTAN_REVOLT?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=INTERNATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-05-13-13-42-41

Soldiers opened fire on thousands of protesters in eastern Uzbekistan on Friday after demonstrators stormed a jail to free 23 men accused of Islamic extremism by the government of the U.S ally. About 50 people may have been killed in clashes with police and security forces, a protest leader said.

Protesters fell to the ground as the troops surrounded the crowd of some 4,000 and started shooting outside the city's administration building, which had been seized by the demonstrators. An Associated Press reporter saw 10 people who apparently had been hit, including at least one dead, and participants in the rally said two more had been killed.

Rights activist Saidjakhon Zainabiddinov, reached by telephone, said he could still hear sporadic gunfire late Friday, but it was unclear who was shooting. He said the overcrowded prison had been emptied during the jailbreak, with some 2,000 inmates freed along with the 23 defendants.

Uzbekistan is a key U.S. ally in the war on terrorism, providing an air base to support military operations in neighboring Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But the closer ties with Washington have drawn increased international attention to widespread human rights abuses in the former Soviet republic, whose authoritarian government is seen as one of the most repressive in the region.

A witness told The Associated Press he had seen a group of about 100 protesters mowed down by gunfire as they headed to the square. The city's hospital was cordoned off and officials could not be reached for casualty figures.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/UZBEKISTAN_REVOLT?SITE=MNMAN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-05-13-15-58-14

therefore is a big Neocon ally.

It seems likely this is the start of a revolution cum civil war there: it is not a peaceable place....

Not much in the way of facts at hand, but I suspect the government
does not resort to such extreme methods as a lark. It does seem that
the military is willing to fire on the citizens, hence there is
every reason to expect blood. I've seen a few stories to the
effect that the government has restored order, but I think I'll wait
a day or two before assuming that people have all gone back home.