President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov made a statement after the incident with foreign students that occurred on May 17-18 in Bishkek.
According to the head of state, if law enforcement agencies had promptly taken action and disclosed their actions to the public in a timely manner, perhaps this would not have happened.
«The Ministry of Internal Affairs detained the perpetrators of the incident that occurred on May 13 and carried out the required investigation. But, unfortunately, other forces interested in aggravating the situation managed to take advantage of this. The demands of our patriotic youth to stop the illegal migration of foreign citizens and take tough measures against those who allow such activities are certainly justified. Such demands have been also made in the past.
The State Committee for National Security and the Ministry of Internal Affairs carried out work to detect illegally staying foreign citizens. However, by believing everything that appears on the Internet, without being able to objectively assess and analyze the situation, you succumbed to provocative calls that inflamed national feelings and caused damage to our state and people, known since ancient times for their hospitality. This is very sad,» Sadyr Japarov said.
He added that he would not allow the implementation of despicable plans on the part of unscrupulous people seeking easy money and provocateurs.
I would like to say directly: those who were unable to come to power, do not approve the fight against corruption, those in prisons specifically created WhatsApp groups and fake accounts to spread provocative information.
President Sadyr Japarov
«Nevertheless, on the night of May 18, efforts were made to stop the young people who went out onto the streets to prevent further aggravation of the situation and more serious incidents,» the president emphasized.
Sadyr Japarov recalled that on the day of the protest no force was used against those gathered. According to him, among the protesters were armed citizens who, with bad intentions, wanted to provoke unrest.
«If the police began to disperse people by brutal force, bloggers and provocateurs were already ready among them who, as usual, planned to distribute video messages calling for a large-scale uprising, claiming: «Here is our government, instead of protecting the Kyrgyz, on the contrary, it supports them and starts humiliating our people.» Our misled young patriots did not know about this extremely dangerous situation. And not only young people, but the entire population could believe and say: «Yes, it’s true.»
Therefore, I gave the law enforcement agencies an order: «Take control of the situation, continuously carry out explanatory work with young people and try to stabilize the situation without clashes.» If there were looting, attacks on police, or attacks on students in dormitories, we would take tough measures. Fortunately, this did not happen,» the head of state said.
He noted that all those responsible will receive the deserved punishment.
I would like to urge young people to be patient and not give in to dubious calls. Strict actions will be taken against those who use our youth, take them to the streets, create events like yesterday, and realize their despicable intentions.
President Sadyr Japarov
«I know that such provocateurs will come out tomorrow and start shouting: «The government has begun to detain its own people.» However, I would like to emphasize that the peace of people who have entrusted their fate to the state, the unity, dignity of the country, its development are much higher than this group of provocateurs,» the president said.
As Sadyr Japarov said, the number of labor migrants working in Kyrgyzstan to date is only 5,322 people. The number of foreign students is 42,620 people.
A spontaneous protest against foreigners, which began in the evening of May 17 in Bishkek, ended only in the morning of May 18. The police managed to come to an agreement with the protesters, and they opened Chui Avenue, and dispersed a little later. According to the Ministry of Health, 41 victims sought medical help as a result of the mass brawl with foreigners in Bishkek.
Following a fight on May 13 in a hostel, which was one of the reasons for the protests, the police detained four citizens of Egypt; they were later placed under house arrest. A criminal case was initiated under the article «Hooliganism» of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic.
