‘Tulip Revolution’ Turns into Plundering Looting

All entrances of the Presidential Palace compound of Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev, which at one time people could only enter after passing through three or four checkpoints, were thrown open to people yesterday, Thursday (March 24). Protestors ran up to the seventh floor of the building. Everywhere was being plundered. When I came to Akayev’s office together with a group of protestors, I suddenly began to think of the times I had visited to conduct various interviews. Now; however, it was so different as people were pounding on the door and freely entering into the president’s office without facing any obstacles. Akayev was not in his office. The plundering and looting soon after began in the Presidential offices. A crowd was now plundering the office, which guards were allowed to stay for only three or five minutes. The incidents that occurred in the Presidential Palace had begun to take place in every corner the city. As police officers retreated to their homes for security reasons after protestors had seized the Palace, no one intervened in the plundering and the pillaging. Looters seized almost everything. They were plundering everything and everything they could find in the stores in the capital.

It was observed that the protests that began in the south of the country did not fail to reach the capital, Bishkek. A Georgian flag, which was hung in the window of a building in an area where people had gathered in the west of the city, caught everyone’s eye. While slogans were chanted, an elderly Kyrgyz gentleman, who sat across from the protestors and continued to read his newspaper as if nothing was happening, was seen as the harbinger of a revolution that was expected to be simple.

Helicopters buzzing in the skies above Bishkek were interpreted as security forces in to intimidate protestors. Yellow roses were carried by the opposition leader walking in front of the thousands of people flowing to the city. When the crowd reached the front of the government building, these roses were handed to the police, who had taken precautionary measures around the building. Some officials, who had organized the demonstration, called out to police and warned:" We are with you and your are with us". The government did not use police; however, a quarrel from an unknown group of demonstrators increased tension. Following attacks from both sides with sticks and stones being thrown at each other, the square turned into a battlefield. The crowd of media, consisting of both local and international reporters, watched the incidents. When the people headed towards the Presidential Palace compound, rangers were forced to intervene; however, they were immediately forced to pull back after they intervened. A group of protestors practically lynched a member of the security forces. Protests began in the south of the country ended at Akayev’s palace in the capital.