President imposes curfew, bans protests to end turmoil

MOSCOW— Authorities in Kyrgyzstan on Saturday arrested a former president, banned rallies and imposed a curfew in the Central Asian nation’s capital, seeking to end a week of turmoil sparked by a disputed parliamentary election.

The declaration of the 9 a. m. to 5 p. m. curfew in Bishkek followed President Sooronbai Jeenbekov’s decree on Friday announcing a state of emergency in the city until Oct. 21. He also ordered the military to deploy troops to the capital to enforce the measure.

Convoys of military trucks were seen driving into the city.

Jeenbekov has faced calls to step down from thousands of protesters who stormed government buildings a night after progovernment parties reportedly swept parliamentary seats in Sunday’s vote. The demonstrators also freed former President Almazbek Atambayev, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in June on charges of corruption and abuse of office that he and his supporters described as a political vendetta by Jeenbekov.

Atambayev was arrested again on Saturday on charges of organizing riots, the State Security Committee said in a statement.

The turmoil marks a third time in 15 years that protesters have moved to topple a government in Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian nation of 6.5 million that is one of the poorest to emerge from the former Soviet Union.

As in the uprisings that ousted Kyrgyz presidents in 2005 and 2010, the current protests have been driven by clan rivalries that play a dominant role in the country’s politics.

After an initial attempt to break up protesters in the hours after the vote, police have pulled back and refrained from intervening with the demonstrations. Residents of the capital began forming vigilante groups to prevent looting that accompanied previous uprisings in the country.

Under pressure from protesters, the Central Election Commission has overturned the parliamentary vote results and protest leaders have moved quickly to form a new government. An emergency parliament session on Tuesday named lawmaker Sadyr Zhaparov as new prime minister, but the move was immediately contested by other protest groups, plunging the country into chaos.

On Friday, supporters of Zhaparov assailed proAtambayev demonstrators on Bishkek’s central square, hurling stones and bottles. A man with a pistol fired several shots at Atambayev’s car as it sped away, but the former president was unhurt. Two other politicians affiliated with Atambayev also had their cars shot at as they left the square, their party said. They weren’t injured.

Another politician was badly injured amid the clashes on the square, and several other people were also hurt.

Kyrgyzstan is strategically located on the border with China and once was home to a U. S. air base used for refueling and logistics for the war in Afghanistan. The country is a member of Russiadominated economic and security alliances, hosts a Russian air base and depends on Moscow’s economic support.

Vladimir Isachenkov is an Associated Press writer.