From my former boss at The London School, where I worked when I lived in Kyrgyzstan:
Dear Jane,
Thank you very much for asking and it was nice to hear from you again. We are fine and are already working again and city life is back to normal; the police are back on the streets and the new interim government has got the situation under control.
We had a national strike on April 7th but it was not organized. The opposition people had wanted to organize a national meeting on April 7th, but on April 6th all opposition leaders were put in prison. The next day people came for the meeting and were looking for their leaders. But they were surrounded by police and the police tried to arrest all of them.
Then people got crazy, about this humiliation, and it grew into a wildcat strike which ended with the overthrow of Bakiev's ( former president) presidency. Of course, widespread discontent of the government preceded this situation - people were unhappy about increasing prices for electricity and heating because all strategically important property and resources of the country have been sold out for unrealstic prices to Bakiev and his relatives’ family. Plus, unprecedented growing violations of ordinary peoples' rights -, shutting down all important news Internet channels ,on a mass scale arrest of people and the increase of corruption and illegal activity.
I saw the news on CNN and other channels – we believe they are exaggerating the situation. Yes, there were lootings and burning of some buildings and a couple of supermarkets - which belong to the president or other dishonest politicians, however, these looted buildings are about 10% of the city and others are fine. It is thought these actions were under taken by people who were angry or frustrated with Bakiev and his government - they did it because they wanted revenge against a corrupt government system. Of course, from the western point of view, it is not something that you could understand because your Government does not act in such an illegal manner or in such a large scale, which influences people’s lives. Unfortunately, people here could only uphold their rights and liberty through the actions taken in Bihkek, which you have probably heard about in the media.
Of course, some of them did turn to violence which usually follow this type of event, but it does not mean widespread violence.
Some of the news channels commentated about the possibility of Civil War and Bakiev is going to head to Bishkek with his armed services. And because of this a confrontation between the north and south of Kyrgyzstan, which is not true. In all regions, authority has been passed to the interim government representatives in a peaceful manner including the south.
We still we have disquiet in the city which is typical in this kind of situation however we are happy that we could have a chance to change things towards of democracy system.
I hope this short piece of information gives you an explanation of what is happening here and again thank you very much for asking,
Kendje
From my former student, Justin, who is Korean and 12 years old:
Hello, Jane.
How are you?
Its been a long time since we met.
Well, you see...
I'm scared to go outside because of the protest.
But people say it is over.
I have also skipped school because of this.
I'm not even sure that my school and London school is alright.
Well, I guess I have to wait.
Okay. How is it in USA?
Do you have any good news?
I'll wait for your reply.
Justin
From a friend who works at a US-based NGO in Bishkek:
Hello All,
It's about 10am Friday morning in Bishkek. Nice day. Sun is out. Day 3 of the revolution. It hasn't been given a name yet, as far as I know. Their revolution in 2005, which I never heard of until I got there, was called the "Tulip Revolution". The interesting thing is that the President that came to power in 2005 is the same guy they are trying to get rid of now. Great example of being careful what you wish for.
Quick recap. On Tuesday, reports came in that there were protests in the western part of the country. Expat interns were "grounded" meaning we had to go home right after work and to stay in our apartments. That meant I had to cancel my Russian lesson and miss my Latin Dance class :(
Wednesday is when the proverbial sh*t hit the fan. The day started normally but then reports started coming in of protesters clashing with police downtown just blocks away from our office. Soon we started hearing gunshots. Someone eventually explained to me how to tell the difference between a rubber bullet, live ammo and a car exploding.
The expats were taken to a "safe house" (not what they actually call it). I and the other intern made spaghetti for everyone. I was in charge of the toast and accidentally spread some sort of cheese on all the bread. I was like "This butter is like cheese" and the other intern said "It is cheese". Turned out pretty tasty anyway. After dinner I was asked for contact information for relatives, about what visas I had for neighboring countries (!) and about what kind of insurance I had (!!). We later heard that the opposition had declared a new government and hoped that things would start settling down.
The next day, Thursday, the city was relatively quiet. People were strolling around the grounds of the main government building (called the "White House") which was still burning and had burnt-out cars littering the parking lot. By the evening, though, hopes for a quick resolution dimmed as the old president announced he would not resign. Reports came in that crowds in the main square downtown were being disbursed and no-one knew where they would go or what they would do next.
Besides the continuing gunshots and one little scare when we were told to turn off all the lights, the rest of the night was relatively calm. Things seem quiet again today but things change quickly and the plan is to stay in the safe house for at least one more night.
Well, that's all the time I have to write right now. I had actually been cat-sitting before all this started and need to go feed the kitties.
Dear Jane,
Thank you very much for asking and it was nice to hear from you again. We are fine and are already working again and city life is back to normal; the police are back on the streets and the new interim government has got the situation under control.
We had a national strike on April 7th but it was not organized. The opposition people had wanted to organize a national meeting on April 7th, but on April 6th all opposition leaders were put in prison. The next day people came for the meeting and were looking for their leaders. But they were surrounded by police and the police tried to arrest all of them.
Then people got crazy, about this humiliation, and it grew into a wildcat strike which ended with the overthrow of Bakiev's ( former president) presidency. Of course, widespread discontent of the government preceded this situation - people were unhappy about increasing prices for electricity and heating because all strategically important property and resources of the country have been sold out for unrealstic prices to Bakiev and his relatives’ family. Plus, unprecedented growing violations of ordinary peoples' rights -, shutting down all important news Internet channels ,on a mass scale arrest of people and the increase of corruption and illegal activity.
I saw the news on CNN and other channels – we believe they are exaggerating the situation. Yes, there were lootings and burning of some buildings and a couple of supermarkets - which belong to the president or other dishonest politicians, however, these looted buildings are about 10% of the city and others are fine. It is thought these actions were under taken by people who were angry or frustrated with Bakiev and his government - they did it because they wanted revenge against a corrupt government system. Of course, from the western point of view, it is not something that you could understand because your Government does not act in such an illegal manner or in such a large scale, which influences people’s lives. Unfortunately, people here could only uphold their rights and liberty through the actions taken in Bihkek, which you have probably heard about in the media.
Of course, some of them did turn to violence which usually follow this type of event, but it does not mean widespread violence.
Some of the news channels commentated about the possibility of Civil War and Bakiev is going to head to Bishkek with his armed services. And because of this a confrontation between the north and south of Kyrgyzstan, which is not true. In all regions, authority has been passed to the interim government representatives in a peaceful manner including the south.
We still we have disquiet in the city which is typical in this kind of situation however we are happy that we could have a chance to change things towards of democracy system.
I hope this short piece of information gives you an explanation of what is happening here and again thank you very much for asking,
Kendje
From my former student, Justin, who is Korean and 12 years old:
Hello, Jane.
How are you?
Its been a long time since we met.
Well, you see...
I'm scared to go outside because of the protest.
But people say it is over.
I have also skipped school because of this.
I'm not even sure that my school and London school is alright.
Well, I guess I have to wait.
Okay. How is it in USA?
Do you have any good news?
I'll wait for your reply.
Justin
From a friend who works at a US-based NGO in Bishkek:
Hello All,
It's about 10am Friday morning in Bishkek. Nice day. Sun is out. Day 3 of the revolution. It hasn't been given a name yet, as far as I know. Their revolution in 2005, which I never heard of until I got there, was called the "Tulip Revolution". The interesting thing is that the President that came to power in 2005 is the same guy they are trying to get rid of now. Great example of being careful what you wish for.
Quick recap. On Tuesday, reports came in that there were protests in the western part of the country. Expat interns were "grounded" meaning we had to go home right after work and to stay in our apartments. That meant I had to cancel my Russian lesson and miss my Latin Dance class :(
Wednesday is when the proverbial sh*t hit the fan. The day started normally but then reports started coming in of protesters clashing with police downtown just blocks away from our office. Soon we started hearing gunshots. Someone eventually explained to me how to tell the difference between a rubber bullet, live ammo and a car exploding.
The expats were taken to a "safe house" (not what they actually call it). I and the other intern made spaghetti for everyone. I was in charge of the toast and accidentally spread some sort of cheese on all the bread. I was like "This butter is like cheese" and the other intern said "It is cheese". Turned out pretty tasty anyway. After dinner I was asked for contact information for relatives, about what visas I had for neighboring countries (!) and about what kind of insurance I had (!!). We later heard that the opposition had declared a new government and hoped that things would start settling down.
The next day, Thursday, the city was relatively quiet. People were strolling around the grounds of the main government building (called the "White House") which was still burning and had burnt-out cars littering the parking lot. By the evening, though, hopes for a quick resolution dimmed as the old president announced he would not resign. Reports came in that crowds in the main square downtown were being disbursed and no-one knew where they would go or what they would do next.
Besides the continuing gunshots and one little scare when we were told to turn off all the lights, the rest of the night was relatively calm. Things seem quiet again today but things change quickly and the plan is to stay in the safe house for at least one more night.
Well, that's all the time I have to write right now. I had actually been cat-sitting before all this started and need to go feed the kitties.
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