Protesters clashed with police and tried to break into a building housing the parliament and government offices in Kyrgyzstan s capital Bishkek on Wednesday during a rally to demand the resignation of the prime minister and other top officials. Police officers protecting the government building known as the White House used police dogs and smoke bombs to disperse a group of young men who attempted to scale the gates. The Health Ministry said 10 people were being treated for injuries three of them for gunshot wounds. Officials said no police were injured. Around 1000 people gathered in the centre of the city for a rally organised by nationalist politicians Sapar Zhaparov and Kamchibek Tashiyev ostensibly to demand the nationalisation of a controversial gold mine in the east of the Central Asian nation. Interior Minister Zarylbek Rysaliyev said those responsible for the violence would be sought and punished. Kyrgyzstan a country of 5 m million people on China s mountainous western border has come to prominence in recent years because it hosts a US air base used to support military operations in nearby Afghanistan. Kyrgyzstan is currently governed by a parliamentary coalition presided over by Prime Minister Zhantoro Satybaldiyev. Zhaparov and Tashiyev are members of a virulently nationalist opposition party Ata-Zhurt which draws the bulk of its support from the south of the country which was the scene of deadly ethnic clashes in June 2010. Ata-Zhurt is the largest party in the turbulent ex-Soviet republic s parliament although it is not in the governing coalition. Wednesday s gathering was nominally intended to voice discontent over the Kumtor gold mine which has been the source of a series of toxic spills in past years. Critics have alleged that Toronto-based Centerra Gold which is developing Kumtor has used accounting tricks to reduce its tax liabilities. The company has denied the allegation. Centerra said its project has generated 1.9 b billion US dollars in benefits for Kyrgyzstan including 620 m million US dollars in taxes. Kumtor accounts for 12 per cent of the economy. Some observers believe that opposition politicians may be using discontent over the mine as a smokescreen for a grab at power.

• published: 31 Oct 2013
• views: 2