BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: A court in Kyrgyzstan on Thursday banned mass rallies in the centre of the capital until July as the volatile country´s protest season gets under way.
A court in the capital Bishkek ruled to accept a request by the city administration for the restriction, which cited rally organisers´ failure to keep order and the threat of the coronavirus as reasons for a ban.
The move that will see rallies prohibited in the city centre until July 1 came after around a hundred people were detained this week over a rally to free an opposition politician. The rally spun out of control as protesters began marching towards the country´s main seat of government, triggering clashes with police who used water cannon and stun grenades to restore control.
Kyrgyzstan is expected to hold toughly-contested parliamentary elections in the autumn. "As practice shows, the leaders and organisers of such large gatherings do not control the process," the city administration said in its request to the court.
"As a result there are mass disturbances and obstruction to traffic." Kyrgyzstan has so far had no confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus that has killed 3,300 people and infected more than 90,000, but the city administration said the global spread of the disease made "the conduct of activities involving a large number of people" undesirable.
A representational image showing migrants waiting to be disembarked from a British border force vessel in Dover,...
Smoke billows from a vehicle allegedly burned by the Meitei community tribals protesting to demand inclusion under the...
The collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge lies on top of the container ship Dali in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 29,...
Hope Hicks in 2018. She worked on Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and in the White House during his presidency. — AFP...
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. — AFP FileLONDON: Britain’s opposition Labour Party won a parliamentary seat in...
Former British prime minister David Cameron. — AFP FileKYIV: Ukraine can use British weapons inside Russian...