People demonstrate against a candidate's exclusion from the July presidential elections.

Bishkek (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Kyrgyzstan was rocked by protests following the decision to disqualify a candidate from the upcoming presidential elections in July.

Some two thousands people, shouting anti-government slogans, peacefully stormed the building where the Electoral Commission is located inside the main government complex, in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital.

Kyrgyz police recaptured the building after driving the protesters out and pursuing them in nearby streets firing shots in the air and tear gas.

Undaunted, people regrouped and hours later a 10,000-strong crowd had reformed in front the main government building now patrolled by a thousand police officers in full anti-riot gear.

Protesters demand that Urmatbek Baryaktabasov, an important businessman, be allowed to run.

Kyrgyz election officials said that Mr Baryaktabasov was not Kyrgyz since he became a citizen of Kazakhstan in the nineties.

Many however believe that the businessman's exclusion has more to do with the fact that he is interim President Kurmanbek Bakiev's main adversary.

Bakiev was appointed President last March when mass demonstrations forced then President Askar Akaev into exile after allegedly rigged parliamentary elections.

In the upcoming July elections, Bakiev is facing six other candidates—the better known are former Interior Minister Kenechbek, Douichebaiev and former Education Minister Gaicha Ibraguimova.

The government convened an emergency session of parliament to examine the situation.

"This evening and this night, armed forces will be employed to protect shops and large trading centres," Defence Minister Ismail Isakov told the emergency meeting.

According to other reports, there have been protests in Karakol, the administrative centre of the eastern region from which Baryktabasov hails.

Violence has been increasing as the election approaches. On June 10, lawmaker Jyrgalbek Surabaldiev, an ally of ousted President Askar Akaev, was fatally shot.

On the 11, unidentified assailants burst into Bakiev's campaign headquarters and set it on fire.

On June13, several people were wounded when a crowd of some 200 stormed a hotel in the southern city of Osh in an apparent protest against lawmaker Bayaman Erkinbaev, an important businessman from Kara-suu. Bodyguards reacted shooting and wounding some of the people present.

• kyrgyzstan
• democracy
• protests
• repression