Second city calm as 'people's brigades' maintain security

Opposition celebrations in the centre of the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh have become a daily ritual for those demonstrators who have not left the city to export the unrest north to the capital. On Thursday morning, people were sitting or sleeping on the ground, listening to music and watching performers on stage. Others chatted and waited for more news from Bishkek, where the government was rapidly capitulating to thousands of protesters. Security in Osh is being maintained by so-called people’s brigades, which have been patrolling the city day and night, along with police, to deter looters and opportunist criminals. Bazarbai Solpuev, the people’s commissioner who has been coordinating the brigades, told IRIN that about 1,000 protesters had volunteered to join the patrols. "Together with the police they are working to avoid chaos and anarchy. Many of them are local sportsmen. According to my observations, since the new government has been in power the situation with crime has improved." Public transport was running again in the city and shops and businesses opened. Street sweepers were at work cleaning up the last of the debris from street disturbances earlier in the week that led to opposition groups taking charge on Tuesday. The opposition-run security brigades are being formed in the main compound of the city's department of internal affairs. According to Uraim Tashiev, an opposition protester who is now in charge of the city's police, law enforcement officers are fully cooperating with the new 'government'. "We are just doing our job - making sure everything is calm and in ordered in Osh. About 60 percent of our policemen have returned to work. Others still remain undercover or stay at home." The unofficial administration, that now controls most of the cities in the south of the country, may soon run into difficulties when it comes to paying salaries of key workers such as the police, health workers and teachers, all of whom are state employees. The new temporary mayor of Osh, Mamasadyk Bakirov, was appointed on Wednesday, but told IRIN he would only accept the job permanently if democratically appointed. "I do not feel myself a fully fledged mayor right now. According to the constitution, the mayor must be proposed by the president and approved by Osh city council."