How I Survived the Revolution in Bishkek

Since the afternoon of 7 April 2010 I have been without internet access. But, the local internet cafe is now open and Blogger is unblocked. At 1:30 in the afternoon on the 7th I was sent home from work in order to protect my safety. A rather large crowd of riot police had already gathered in front of both the parliment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs next to the university. As I walked home I saw a large crowd of people marching with flags along with the trucks that were later rammed into the gates of the White House on Chui. I did not see anything else until the next morning, but I heard the mob of looters ransack the Vefa Center. We had just gotten a new Beta Store to replace Ramstor a week ago. Now the entire mall is in ruins.

The next day Oksana, Askarbek and I walked down to see the White House. There was a large crowd of people wandering in and out of the building. From the upper stories of the building people were throwing out a large number of documents. There was an impromptu memorial at the gate for the people who had died the previous day. We left when the leader of Ata Meken started giving a speech to an ever increasing crowd of people.

A large number of stores and kiosks were looted and burned during the night of the 7th. The police force simply disappeared that night. The looting continued the next night. It was not until Friday the 9th that I saw any police in Bishkek.

Today everything seems quite normal. I took Askarbek to the park to play. The little bazaar behind us is doing a brisk business. I purchased hamburgers for lunch. Except for the ruins of Vefa things have pretty much returned to normal in Yug-2.