ATA-BEIT, Kyrgyzstan, April 10 (AFP) -Thousands gathered at a Kyrgyz mountain cemetery Saturday for the funerals of 16 people who died in the bloody uprising that toppled the regime of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
The victim's bodies, swathed in bright red Kyrgyz flags, were laid out as the crowd of around 7,000 mourners sung traditional songs and whispered prayers, an AFP correspondent said.
Key figures of the country's new government that replaced Bakiyev's regime were among the throng of mourners at the cemetery in the mountains around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the capital Bishkek.
Addressing the crowd, interim leader Roza Otunbayeva blamed the deaths on the ousted government and promised the weeping relatives of the victims justice.
“The regime became the enemy of the people when it opened fire on its patriots, the best sons of the nation, and we, we will do our best to install a just power in Kyrgyzstan,” Otunbayeva said.
Her deputy prime minister Omurbek Tekebayev renewed the opposition's pledges for a “true democracy” in the former Soviet state. |
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