A10
Iranian protesters return to streets
After big rally called off, many turn out to mark year since disputed vote
by Thomas Erdbrink
tehran — Anti-government protesters took to the streets of the Iranian capital Saturday for the first time in four months, commemorating the anniversary of President Mahmoud Ahmadi- nejad’s disputed election victory a year ago despite the cancellation of a planned mass rally. Demonstrators turned out all along Enghelab (Revolution) Street, one of Tehran’s longest av- enues, sporadically shouting slo- gans in support of Mir Hossein Mousavi, one of the leaders of the opposition. But security forces were present in overwhelming force, hundreds on motorcycles and hundreds of others patrolling on foot, and no serious clashes erupted. “There were so many plain- clothes officers, that we didn’t know who was with us or who was against us,” a protester said. “But people were not afraid at all, which must be worrying for the government.” Even though the demonstra- tions were far smaller and the at- mosphere generally calmer than in the post-election protests last year, that people decided to go out was remarkable, analysts said. Over the past year, thousands have been arrested at such events, hundreds were jailed and at least two people were hanged, alleged- ly for participating in the protests. After officials refused to give permission for a Saturday demon- stration, Mousavi and his fellow opposition leader Mehdi Karrou- bi asked supporters not to protest, in order “to protect people’s lives and property,” according to a joint statement published on their Web sites.
At least 10 people were arrest- ed, according to witnesses. In cen- tral Enghelab Square, riot police at times used batons to disperse groups of people, and two women were seen being taken away by se- curity forces. In one instance, blanks were fired in the air. Some witnesses said tear gas was also used. But for the most part, police intervened only when people as- sembled in larger numbers. When one group gathered at a stone bench, riot police quickly arrived, but found only that some- one had written a call for a future protest on the seat. A member of the volunteer paramilitary force known as the baseej started rub- bing the stone clean as protesters walked away. In predominantly Shiite Iran, commemorations are traditional- ly highly important. In the com- ing weeks, several events will be remembered, including the death of Neda Agha Soltan, the woman whose killing during a protest on June 20, 2009, was captured on video and has been viewed around the world. Also likely to be commemorated is an anti-govern- ment demonstration that took place last June 15, in which mil- lions participated and eight peo- ple were killed.
erdbrinkt@washpost.com
S
KLMNO THE WORLD
SUNDAY, JUNE 13, 2010
PHOTOS BY D. DALTON BENNETT/ASSOCIATED PRESS Ethnic Uzbeks gather near the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border in southern Kyrgyzstan to seek refuge in Uzbekistan from mobs of Kyrgyz men attacking the minority Uzbek community. Russia won’t intervene in Kyrgyzstan
ETHNIC UNREST SPREADS
Kremlin consults with neighbors on response
by Philip P. Pan
moscow — Russia turned down an appeal for peacekeeping troops from the fragile interim government of Kyrgyzstan on Saturday as deadly ethnic rioting there spread to a second city and prompted a panicked exodus from the former Soviet republic, which hosts a key U.S. air base|. The Kremlin said the violence — in which at least 77 people have been killed and nearly 1,000 in- jured — did not call for Russian military
government held emergency con- sultations with its neighbors about a joint response. Thousands of frightened eth-
nic Uzbeks in the nation’s south were fleeing toward the border with Uzbekistan as President Ro- za Otunbayeva acknowledged that her government had lost control of Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s sec- ond-largest city. Meanwhile, new clashes broke out in the nearby city of Jalalabad.
Witnesses said gangs of young
Kyrgyz men armed with guns and metal bars set fire to Uzbek neighborhoods and seized weap- ons from the security forces as the region braced for a third con- secutive night of looting and gun
KYRGYZSTAN Asia
Indian Ocean
KAZAKHSTAN Tashkent
Osh I
Dushanbe
Ethnic riots kill dozens
0 MILES Kabul
An Ethnic Uzbek reportedly injured during morning clashes, is treated at Naramon Regional Hospital, near the Osh airport.
intervention. But the
battles. Local authorities have said the violence was touched off by a brawl in a restaurant over a din- ner bill. But Otunbayeva accused supporters of the recently ousted former president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, of fanning unrest to un- dermine her government before a referendum this month on a new constitution. The region is a Bakiyev strong- hold and a cauldron of ethnic and religious tensions, part of a densely populated, richly fertile valley divided between Kyrgyz- stan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan along largely arbitrary Soviet-era borders. In 1990, clashes over land between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz left hundreds dead, and in recent
years, the three nations have sought to suppress the rise of radical Islam in the valley. As many as 1 million Uzbeks live in Kyrgyzstan, many of them recent migrants who have taken over farms abandoned by an equally large number of Kyrgyz who have moved to Russia to find jobs. Tensions in the south have been running high since Bakiyev was ousted in a bloody uprising April 7, with Uzbeks seeking a greater role in the new political order and many Kyrgyz there continuing to back the deposed president. Local media broadcast images
of Uzbek families streaming from burning villages and massing near the border, and the Associat-
DIGEST AFGHANISTAN
U.N. reviews Taliban, al-Qaeda blacklist
Fueling momentum for a polit- ical solution to the war in Af- ghanistan, a U.N. committee is re- viewing whether certain people could be removed from a black- list that freezes assets and limits travel of key Taliban and al-Qae- da figures, a U.N. official said Sat- urday.
Delegates to a national confer- ence, or peace jirga, held this month in Kabul urged the Afghan government and its allies to re- move some of the 137 people from the list — a long-standing de- mand of the Taliban.
“De-listing was one of the clear
messages coming from the peace jirga,” said Staffan de Mistura, the top U.N. representative in Af- ghanistan. “The U.N. is listening.” The committee is expected to
complete its review by the end of the month and give its recom- mendations to the U.N. Security Council, which will decide whether to take names off the list. Also Saturday, five Afghan po-
lice officers and three NATO serv- ice members, including an un- identified American, died in sep- arate roadside bombings. — Associated Press
INDIAN OCEAN
U.S. teen sailor rescued; is safe
Teenage U.S. sailor Abby Sun- derland was rescued from her stricken yacht Wild Eyes in the remote southern Indian Ocean on Saturday, abandoning her widely criticized attempt to cir- cumnavigate the world. A boat launched from the
French fishing vessel Ile de la Re- union reached Sunderland on Saturday evening about 2,000 miles from the western Austral- ian coast, Australian officials said.
Sunderland, 16, said she was
“safe and sound” in comments Saturday on her official blog, which she wrote aboard the fish- ing vessel. “The long and the short of it is, well, one long wave, and one short mast (short meaning two
Iraqi rivals meet in icebreak-
er: Iraq’s top political rivals have met for the first time since March’s parliamentary elections in what aides called a major step toward ending the power dispute stalling the formation of a new
government. Aides to Prime Min- ister Nouri al-Maliki and former premier Ayad Allawi added, how- ever, that the 90-minute discus- sion was more of an icebreaker than the start of serious negotia- tions. The new parliament’s first
session is Monday.
Israeli suspect in Dubai hit- squad case arrested in Poland: An alleged spy from Israel want- ed in connection with the hit- squad slaying of a Hamas agent
inch stub),” she wrote, promising to provide details later. “Crazy is the word that really describes ev- erything that has happened best.” Sunderland left the United
States in January. She ran into trouble Thursday, when her yacht was pounded by huge waves mid- way between Africa and Aus- tralia.
— Reuters Brazil’s main opposition party Political prisoner freed in Cu-
ba: Cuba freed a political pris- oner who is confined to a wheel- chair and began transferring six others to jails closer to their homes, part of a deal with the Catholic Church and the strong- est sign yet that the government may be softening its hard-line stance on organized dissent. Ariel Sigler was one of 75 activists and journalists arrested in a 2003 crackdown.
ENRIQUE DE LA OSA/REUTERS
Released prisoner Ariel Sigler, who is confined to a wheelchair, returned home Saturday to Pedro Betancourt, Cuba.
anoints candidate: José Serra be- came the presidential candidate of Brazil’s main opposition party Saturday, saying he would run a more ethical government than President Luiz Inácio Lula da Sil- va. Serra, an economist with a long track record in government, faces a tough fight against Lula’s handpicked successor, Dilma Rousseff, in the October ballot.
Oil pipeline blown up in Yem-
en: Tribesmen allied with al-Qae- da blew up a crude pipeline linking Yemen’s eastern Marib province to its Red Sea coast, days after Yemeni forces descend- ed on the area to root out mil- itants, Al-Arabiya TV said. — From news services
in Dubai has been arrested in Po- land. The man, using the name Uri Brodsky, is suspected of work- ing for Mossad in Germany and helping to issue a fake German passport to a member of the Mos- sad team that allegedly killed Ha- mas agent Mahmoud al-Mab- houh in Dubai in January, Ger- man officials said.
PAKISTAN IslamabadIslamabad INDIA GENE THORP/THE WASHINGTON POST
ed Press reported that several children had been killed in stam- peding crowds. There were con- flicting reports about whether the refugees were being granted passage into Uzbekistan. “Fighting and rampages are continuing,” Otunbayeva told re- porters, warning of a humanitari- an crisis as food supplies in the region dwindled. “We need the entry of outside forces to calm the situation. We have appealed to Russia for help, and I have al- ready signed such a letter for President Dmitry Medvedev.” Kremlin spokeswoman Nata- lya Timakova said Russia was sending humanitarian aid and helping to evacuate the wounded. She added that a decision to send peacekeepers would be made by
200 Bishkek KYRGYZSTAN Jalalabad Jalalabad CHINA
Asia INDIA
the Collective Security Treaty Or- ganization, a regional alliance that scheduled an emergency meeting for Monday. “This is an internal conflict, and for now, Russia does not see the conditions for taking part in its resolution,” she told the In- terfax news agency. Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished
nation of more than 5 million, is the only country that hosts both American and Russian military bases. If Moscow agrees to send peacekeepers, it is likely to gain greater leverage over the future of the U.S. facility, which is crit- ical to supplying NATO forces in Afghanistan. Russia’s influence in Kyrgyz- stan has been on the rise since Bakiyev’s ouster. The autocrat fell out of favor with the Kremlin by breaking a promise to close the U.S. base and fled the country af- ter his security forces opened fire on protesters, killing more than 80 people.
A provisional government made up of former opposition fig- ures quickly took power but has struggled to maintain order, es- pecially in the south, where it has repeatedly clashed with Bakiyev loyalists. Critics say the security forces are understaffed and led by corrupt officials with ties to or- ganized crime.
Azimbek Beknazarov, the sen-
ior law enforcement official in the interim government, told re- porters that the authorities have been forced to rely on volunteers. “We will run out of strength with- in the next two days if no assis- tance comes,” he said.
panp@washpost.com
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