DUSHANBE, June 3, 2012 Asia-Plus – Kyrgyz media sources report Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev lifted a state of emergency in the northern district t of Jety-Oguz on June 3.
Kyrgyz president’s press center was quoted as saying that the state of emergency had been lifted due to the stabilization of the situation in the area.
The state of emergency was introduced on May 31 after thousands of protesters clashed with police.
The day before that, the protesters had reportedly seized an electricity station and cut off power to the nation”s biggest gold mine, Kumtor.
They demanded that the mine”s operator, the Canada-based Centerra Gold Company, build environmentally friendly infrastructure and medical facilities for the local population.
Dozens of protesters were detained in the violence.
In the southern Osh region, some 200 protesters have been blocking the Osh-Bishkek highway since June 2, demanding the release of the demonstrators.
Meanwhile, International Crisis Group reports protests against Kyrgyzstan’s largest gold mine escalated and took a violent turn in late May. Protesters demanding an end to alleged environmental pollution from operations at the mine and calling for it to be nationalized blocked the road to the mine and cut off power. The government declared a state of emergency after police clashed with some 3,000 protesters who were attempting to storm mining company offices. The mine is one of Kyrgyzstan’s biggest sources of foreign earnings, and disruption to its operations could damage the country’s faltering economy. Despite the protesters’ environmental demands, much of the unrest appears to have been organized by the nationalist Ata Jurt party. Protestors in the southern city of Jalal-Abad seized government buildings demanding the release of three jailed Ata Jurt members.
