BISHKEK – Kyrgyzstan's opposition said on Thursday it had seized power in the impoverished and strategically important Central Asian state after an uprising forced President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to flee the capital. Roza Otunbayeva, leader of the interim government, demanded the resignation of the president, whom she helped propel to power five years ago. She said Bakiyev, who fled while security forces fired on protesters besieging government buildings in bloody clashes in Bishkek, was trying to rally supporters in his power base in southern Kyrgyzstan. "What we did yesterday was our answer to the repression and tyranny against the people by the Bakiyev regime," said Otunbayeva, who once served as Bakiyev's foreign minister. "You can call this revolution. You can call this a people's revolt. Either way, it is our way of saying that we want justice and democracy," she told reporters. Bishkek awoke to blazing cars and burned-out shops on Thursday after a day in which at least 75 people were killed in the clashes between protesters and security forces. Plumes of smoke billowed from the White House, the main seat of government, as crowds rampaged through the seven-storey building setting several rooms on fire. Looting was widespread. The uprising, which began on Tuesday in a provincial town, was sparked by discontent over corruption, nepotism and rising utility prices in a nation where a third of the 5.3 million population live below the poverty line. The United States and Russia both have military bases in Kyrgyzstan and are, along with China, major donors to the former Soviet state. NATO said flights from the US base in support of its operations in Afghanistan were suspended due to the unrest.
