March for rule of law: Court bans mass meetings in center of Bishkek
Participants of a previously planned march in support of activists and politicians held in custody in the case on organizing mass riots gathered near the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Bishkek.
About 50 march participants and a large number of police officers were on the spot. Law enforcement officers lined up near the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and blocked the entrance to it by official cars. According to them, this is a drill review.
Representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs came out and announced the ban on mass meetings in the center of the capital. This decision was made on December 26 by the Pervomaisky District Court of Bishkek. The ban will last until March 31.
The march participants were urged to hold it in the only permitted place — the park named after Maxim Gorky.
Earlier, police officers came to the house of wife of the activist Ali Shabdan and asked his relatives not to march to the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Mass arrests began on October 23. Authorities placed 26 people in jail on charges of preparing for riots.
A number of international human rights organizations such as the International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR), the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC), the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR), Freedom Now and others issued a statement calling for the immediate release of politicians and activists arrested in Kyrgyzstan.
