Blockade of Bishkek-Osh highway lifted in Kirghizia
The participants in the mass anti-government actions in Kirghizia decided to unblock the highway linking the capital with the city of Osh in the south of the republic. The strategic transport artery was blocked on May 12. The picket-men demanded dismissal of the officials guilty of the March 17 tragedy in the Aksyisky district of Kirghizia when 5 people perished and more than 80 were wounded during the break-up of a demonstration.
The state commission for investigating the causes of these events recommended that the president of the republic make "an assessment of principle" of the actions of the representatives of the state authority bodies and consider the question of their personal responsibility for what happened. Top officials of the presidential administration, the Prosecutor-General Office, the National Security Service, the Supreme Court and the government of the country were named among the culprits. On Monday president of Kirghizia Askar Akayev promised that he would take the commission's conclusions into consideration.
The decision to unblock the Bishkek-Osh motor road was taken after this statement of the president. But some participants in the picket announced that they would stay on the spot and resume the blockade if their demands were not met.
