2024 Bishkek riots

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2024 Bishkek riots
Location Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
DateMay 17–18, 2024
TargetForeigners, especially ones from SWANA and South Asia
Attack type
Mob attack
Deaths4
InjuredAt least 29 [1]
PerpetratorsKyrgyz nationalist mobs
Motive Xenophobia

The 2024 Bishkek riots were attacks on foreigners by ethnic Kyrgyz mobs in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. The clashes lasted from May 17th to the 18th, with four reported deaths.

Contents

Foreign governments with citizens in the country took a deep concern, with the Pakistani government successfully evacuating 3000+ Pakistani students. [2]

Background

Kyrgyzstan is a common destination for medical students, given its cheap costs of education and internationally recognized medical degrees. It had more than 60 thousand foreign students in 2021, including 14,500 Indian students and 10,000 Pakistani students. [3]

Clashes

Clashes began after Kyrgyz students were involved in a brawl with Egyptian and other Arab medical students on May 13 in Bishkek. [4] The Arabs allegedly won the fight, which sparked retaliation by Kyrgyz mobs against foreigners in the country. Initially, over 100 Kyrgyz gathered "to take revenge on the foreigners who beat up residents." [5]

The Kyrgyz mobs began targeting anyone with a similar appearance to the Arabs they had fought. Pakistanis became the most targeted, and Indians and Bangladeshi were attacked too. [6] [7] The attacks were initially in universities, although they later spread to the streets, with Kyrgyz mobs attacking anyone perceived as foreign, whether they were male or female. Foreigners were instructed not to leave their homes and to close their curtains and to hide as the Kyrgyz mobs were severely beating people without any exceptions. The Kyrgyz mobs began going on a manhunt around the city for foreigners. 500–700 more Kyrgyz youth aged between 18 and 25 gathered in the city center. [8]

Four Pakistani students were reported killed, according to a news network from Srinagar, India [9] However, Pakistan and Krygyzstan both reported that no Pakistani students were killed.

On Kyrgyz social media, rioters sent messages calling on locals to come out and attack foreigners. Streets were extremely dangerous as hundreds of Kyrgyz rioters were mercilessly beating any foreigner they saw. [10]

Mobs surrounded universities, workplaces, houses, and hostels where Pakistanis, Indians, and Bangladeshis were located, and dragged them out to beat. They also chanted racist slogans. [11] Local streets were closed by authorities, although it did not have much effect. [12]

By May 18, the violence had died down and the authorities declared the riot over. One-hundred-eighty Pakistanis, including 140 students, left Kyrgyzstan. [13]

Response

Pakistani government

The Pakistani government was commended for its quick response to ensure the safety of Pakistani students. The Kyrgyz government ensured provision of foolproof security to Pakistani students. Standard medical services were provided to the injured students. The government announced plans to operate special flights to bring back Pakistanis from Bishkek. A committee was also constituted to investigate the matter. [14]

Evacuation of students

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar announced that three special planes will bring back a total of 540 Pakistani students from Bishkek. [15]

PTI criticism of Pakistani government response

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, a major opposition party, Sindh’s region President Haleem Adil Sheikh criticized the government's response and said that the government did nothing but issue statements. Shaikh called for immediate start of emergency flight operations and opening of a Green Corridor to ensure safe return of Pakistani nationals. [16]

Reactions

Both the Indian and Pakistani embassies in Bishkek recommended that their nationals in Bishkek should stay indoors. [17]

On 22 May the Kyrgyz Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that ten people, six Kyrgyz nationals and four foreigners, had been detained in connection with the violent riots. According to the ministry, nine investigations were launched into hooliganism, robbery, mass disorder, and inciting ethnic hatred. [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyrgyzstan</span> Country in Central Asia

Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in eastern Central Asia, lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the capital and largest city. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and China to the east and southeast. Ethnic Kyrgyz make up the majority of the country's over 7 million people, followed by significant minorities of Uzbeks and Russians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osh</span> City in southern Kyrgyzstan

Osh is the second-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, located in the Fergana Valley in the south of the country. It is often referred to as the "capital of the south". It is the oldest city in the country and has served as the administrative center of Osh Region since 1939. The city has an ethnically mixed population of 322,164 in 2021, comprising Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Ukrainians, Koreans, and other smaller ethnic groups.

The Tulip Revolution, also known as the First Kyrgyz Revolution, led to then-President Askar Akayev's fall from power. The revolution began after parliamentary elections on 27 February and 13 March 2005. The revolutionaries alleged corruption and authoritarianism by Akayev, his family and supporters. Akayev fled to Kazakhstan and then to Russia. On 4 April 2005, at the Kyrgyz embassy in Moscow, Akayev signed his resignation statement in the presence of a Kyrgyz parliamentary delegation. The resignation was ratified by the Kyrgyz interim parliament on 11 April 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roza Otunbayeva</span> President of Kyrgyzstan from 2010 to 2011

Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva is a Kyrgyz diplomat and politician who served as the President of Kyrgyzstan from 7 April 2010 until 1 December 2011, becoming the first female Central Asian head of state. She was sworn in on July 3, 2010, after acting as interim leader following the 2010 April Revolution, which led to the ousting of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. She previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and as head of the parliamentary caucus for the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan. She is also known for the persecution of human rights activist Azimzhan Askarov and the failed policy that led to the clashes of June 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White House, Bishkek</span> Presidential office building in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

The White House is the presidential office building in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The White House was the site of riots during both the 2005 Tulip Revolution and the 2010 Kyrgyzstani riots. During the 2010 riots a fire broke out and damaged portions of the building and destroyed the hard copies of many government records.

Anti-Indian sentiment or anti-Indianism, also called Indophobia, refers to prejudice, collective hatred, and discrimination which is directed at Indian people for any variety of reasons. It may be rooted in a person's negative perception of India, Indian culture, or Indian history, among other factors. According to Kenyan-American academic Ali Mazrui, Indophobia is "a tendency to react negatively towards people of Indian extraction, against aspects of Indian culture and normative habits." As such, it is the opposite of Indomania, which refers to a pronounced affinity for Indians and their culture, history, and country. Anti-Indian sentiment is frequently a manifestation of racism, particularly in cases in which Indians are targeted alongside other South Asians or simply alongside any other people of colour. Regardless of their motivation, Indophobic individuals often invoke stereotypes of Indians to justify their feelings or attitudes towards them. Persecution of Hindus is the most prominent form of Indophobia.

Prior to 1994, immigrants from elsewhere faced discrimination and even violence in South Africa due to competition for scarce economic opportunities. After majority rule in 1994, contrary to expectations, the incidence of xenophobia increased. In 2008, at least 62 people were killed in the xenophobic uprising and attacks. In 2015, another nationwide spike in xenophobic attacks against immigrants in general prompted a number of foreign governments to begin repatriating their citizens. A Pew Research poll conducted in 2018 showed that 62% of South Africans expressed negative sentiment about foreign nationals living and working in South Africa, believing that immigrants are a burden on society by taking jobs and social benefits and that 61% of South Africans thought that immigrants were more responsible for crime than other groups. There is no factual evidence to substantiate the notion that immigrants are the main culprits of criminal activity in South Africa, even though the claim is incorrectly made sometimes by politicians and public figures. Between 2010 and 2017 the number of foreigners living in South Africa increased from 2 million people to 4 million people. The proportion of South Africa's total population that is foreign born increased from 2.8% in 2005 to 7% in 2019, according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration, South Africa is the largest recipient of immigrants on the African continent.

The Osh riots were an ethnic conflict between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that took place in June 1990 in the cities of Osh and Uzgen, part of the Kirghiz SSR. The immediate cause of the riots was a dispute between an Uzbek nationalist group Adolat and a Kyrgyz nationalist group Osh Aymaghi over the land of a former collective farm. While official estimates of the death toll range from over 300 to more than 600, unofficial figures range up to more than 1,000. The riots have been seen as a forerunner to the 2010 ethnic clashes in the same region.

Chinese people in Kyrgyzstan have been growing in numbers since the late 1980s. 2008 police statistics showed 60,000 Chinese nationals living in the country. However, the 2009 census showed just 1,813 people who declared themselves to be of Chinese ethnicity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">India–Kyrgyzstan relations</span> Bilateral relations

India–Kyrgyzstan relations are the relations between India and Kyrgyzstan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 Kyrgyz Revolution</span> Revolution that overthrew President Kurmanbek Bakiyev

The 2010 Kyrgyz Revolution, also known as the Second Kyrgyz Revolution, the Melon Revolution, the April Events or officially as the People's April Revolution, began in April 2010 with the ousting of Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev in the capital Bishkek. It was followed by increased ethnic tension involving Kyrgyz people and Uzbeks in the south of the country, which escalated in June 2010. The violence ultimately led to the consolidation of a new parliamentary system in Kyrgyzstan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 South Kyrgyzstan ethnic clashes</span> Kyrgyz–Uzbek clashes after President Kurmanbek Bakiyevs ouster

The 2010 South Kyrgyzstan ethnic clashes were clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan, primarily in the cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad, in the aftermath of the ouster of former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev on 7 April. It is part of the larger Kyrgyz Revolution of 2010. Violence that started between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks on 19 May in Jalal-Abad escalated on 10 June in Osh.

Melis Myrzakmatov was the mayor of Osh, Kyrgyzstan's second largest city, from 26 January 2009 until 5 December 2013. Myrzakmatov is known for being a radical nationalist leader and openly bearing an ethnic Kyrgyz-first policy. He is also widely believed to be involved in organized crime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 Kashmir unrest</span> Violent protests and riots in Kashmir, India

The 2010 Kashmir unrest was a series of violent protests and riots in the Kashmir Division and Chenab Valley and Pir Panjal regions of Northern Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir, India which started in June 2010 after the Indian Army claimed to have killed three Pakistani infiltrators in which a soldier of the Territorial Army, a counter-insurgent and a former special police officer had found three young men from their Nadihal village in Baramulla district and killed them in a "staged" encounter at Sona Pindi. The protests occurred in a movement launched by Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir in June 2010, who called for the complete demilitarisation of Jammu and Kashmir. The All Parties Hurriyat Conference made this call to a strike, citing human rights abuses by security forces. Rioters shouting pro-independence slogans, defied curfew, attacked riot police with stones and burnt vehicles and buildings. The protests started out as anti India protests but later were also targeted against the United States following the 2010 Qur'an-burning controversy. The riot police consisting of Jammu and Kashmir Police and Indian Para-military forces fired teargas shells rubber bullets and also live ammunition on the protesters, resulting in 112 deaths, including many teenagers and an 11-year-old boy. The protests subsided after the Indian government announced a package of measures aimed at defusing the tensions in September 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Azimzhan Askarov</span> Kyrgyz activist and journalist (1951–2020)

Azimzhan Askarov was a Kyrgyzstani political activist who founded the group Vozduh in 2002 to investigate police brutality. Of ethnic Uzbek descent, during the 2010 South Kyrgyzstan ethnic clashes, which primarily targeted people of the Uzbek nationality, Askarov worked to document the violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1989 Bhagalpur violence</span> Communal violence in India

The Bhagalpur violence of 1989 took place between Hindus and Muslims in the Bhagalpur district of Bihar, India. The violence started on 24 October 1989, and the violent incidents continued for 2 months, affecting the Bhagalpur city and 250 villages around it. Over 1,000 people were killed, and another 50,000 were displaced as a result of the violence. It was the worst instance of Hindu-Muslim violence in independent India at the time.

The 1989 Bangladesh riots were a series of attacks against the Bengali Hindus in October - November, apparently as a reaction to the laying of the foundation of Ram temple adjacent to Demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in India. In the pogroms, thousands of Hindu homes and businesses were destroyed. More than 400 Hindu temples were destroyed.

On 30 August 2016, a car rammed through the gates of the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and exploded. The driver of the car was killed; three embassy employees were injured.

This is a list of individuals and events related to Kyrgyzstan in 2024.

References

  1. ↑ "First batch of students arrives as govt moves in to rescue Pakistanis in Bishkek". 18 May 2024. Archived from the original on 19 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  2. ↑ Salim, Yusra (26 May 2024). "Panic in Bishkek". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  3. ↑ "Mob violence in Kyrgyzstan a threat to Indian, Pakistani students? What we know so far". Firstpost. 18 May 2024. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  4. ↑ "غاغة ضد المهاجرين في قرغيزستان واحتجاز 3 طلاب مصريين". جريدة البشاير (in Arabic). 18 May 2024. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  5. ↑ "Ambassador says five Pakistani students injured in Kyrgyzstan mob violence". Arab News. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  6. ↑ "Ambassador says five Pakistani students injured in Kyrgyzstan mob violence". Arab News PK. 18 May 2024. Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  7. ↑ "Pakistanis in Kyrgyzstan's Bishkek asked to stay indoors amid mob riots targeting international students". 18 May 2024. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  8. ↑ "4 Arrested, Dozens Injured as Mob Violence Targets Foreigners in Bishkek". Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  9. ↑ "Kyrgyzstan: Four Pakistani students killed in violent attack; India urges students to stay indoor". Free Press Kashmir. 19 May 2024.
  10. ↑ "Locals spreading hate messages on TikTok: Indian students in Kyrgyzstan". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  11. ↑ "'A Living Hell': Pakistani Students Describe Harrowing Bishkek Mob Violence". Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  12. ↑ "Thousands of Pakistani students attacked by locals in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan". humenglish.com. 17 May 2024. Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  13. ↑ Service, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz. "Bishkek University Reportedly Calm After Mob Violence That Injured At Least 29". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Archived from the original on 19 May 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  14. ↑ "Bishkek incident: Govt's swift response for safety of Pakistani students lauded". Archived from the original on 19 May 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  15. ↑ "Three special planes to bring back 540 Pakistanis from Bishkek tonight: Ishaq Dar". Archived from the original on 19 May 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  16. ↑ "Bishkek: PTI leader assails govt for its 'action'". 20 May 2024. Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  17. ↑ "Kyrgyzstan Violence: India, Pakistan Issue Emergency Helplines For Students Amid Reports of Riots In Kyrgyzstan | What We Know". Outlook India. 18 May 2024. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  18. ↑ 6 Kyrgyz, 4 Foreign Nationals Detained Over Mob Attacks In Bishkek That Triggered Exodus (RFE/RL)
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