kyrgyz unrest part 2

The situation in Kyrgyzstan appears to be deteriorating rapidly. The main government building in the capital of Bishkek was overrun today by protestors and there are running street battles with sticks and stones. People are fearful things will quickly turn to bloodshed. I got a message last night from a friend in Bishkek who said things got bad really fast. He said that Bishkek had been totally militarized and the militia had been armed with orders to fire on civilians. At the time of the message he was preparing to evacuate north to Kazakhstan. Another friend in Bishkek just wrote saying that the opposition took over the White House and the Defense Ministry today.

Last summer you could tell the Kyrgyz people were angry. They were unemployed and unhappy with what was going on around them. At the time, a lot of their anger seemed focused on foreigners because they were all perceived to have money. It now seems like they have focused their anger on the internal causes of their problems.

People here in Uzbekistan don't really seem interested in or willing to talk about what is going on with their next door neighbors. Some say it will just calm down eventually. Some think there will be bloodshed before things go back to normal. Others just said that Kyrgyzstan has always been a very dangerous place.