Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – Protesters demanding the Kyrgyz president’s resignation clashed with government supporters Tuesday, but fears of deadly violence eased after lawmakers on both sides said they had agreed on a compromise draft constitution.
Opposition lawmakers said adoption of the draft would end their weeklong protest, which has stoked concern that the former Soviet republic would descend into chaos less than two years after an uprising drove its longtime leader from power.
Fears of a major confrontation had deepened when President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s national security chief warned that government forces would move within hours to clear opposition demonstrators from the central square they have occupied for six days in the capital, Bishkek.
About 7,000 anti-government demonstrators had massed Tuesday in the main square, joining hundreds who have been spending the night in about 100 small tents and 15 yurts – like those traditionally used by nomads.
About 1,000 Bakiyev supporters gathered about 250 yards away at parliament for a pro-government rally, inside a cordon of police and soldiers.
The two groups fought later Tuesday, throwing bottles and rocks, and attacking one another with sticks. Interior Ministry troops separated the protesters, setting off what appeared to be smoke bombs, releasing tear gas and wrestling them away from the area.
Six people were hospitalized, most with shrapnel wounds from stun grenades and one with a brain injury from being hit in the head, said Gulnara Tashiyeva, the chief doctor with the capital’s ambulance service.
The mountainous country of about 5 million is strategically located near China, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.
The U.S. military has maintained an air base in Kyrgyzstan since 2001 to back operations in nearby Afghanistan.
In March 2005, opposition protests drove out longtime President Askar Akayev and brought Bakiyev and the rest of the current leadership to power in the Central Asian nation. His rule has been marred by high-profile killings, a weak economy, battles for control of lucrative businesses and reluctance to decrease presidential powers.
“If the new constitution is adopted tomorrow, the protests will end,” said Azimbek Beknazarov, a leader of the opposition movement For Reforms, who worked on the compromise on the draft constitution.
The plan would cut the president’s powers and give parliament more influence, a key opposition demand.
