Uzbekistan: Gypsy women attack Uzbek president's political adversaries
The Uzbek human rights community organized a picket demanding prosecution of the president for violation of the Constitution, but the picket ended in a scuffle. Uznews.Net reports that human rights activists were attacked by a crowd of Gypsy women.
The picket in front of the Prosecutor General's Office included about twenty human rights activists. Not one representative of the authorities deigned to turn up or meet with the protesters.
Gypsy women appeared instead. "They rushed us and began tearing placards and sacks from our hands," human rights activist Akhtam Shaimardanov said. The Gypsies badly scratched one of the protesters so that an ambulance had to be summoned.
According to Shaimardanov, one of the Gypsies stretched on the asphalt and was carried away by others. The police did appear then, but only to tell the protesters that the girl died. Shaimardanov that the police had been careful to stay out of sight before that, hiding on the premises of the maternity hospital nearby and watching.
Uzmetronom in the meantime claims that human rights activists assaulted and battered some Gypsy women who had offered to tell their fortunes. Uzmetronom referred to eyewitness reports but did not say whether the eyewitnesses had been the police or plainclothesmen. Neither did it confirm a Gypsy girl's death.
Shaimardanov in his turn branded it all as a provocation staged by Uzbek secret services. According to the human rights activist, sending women against protesters and journalists is secret services' traditional practice. These provocateurs are forgiven minor offenses in return for their services.
Uzbek human rights activists have been protesting in front of the Prosecutor General's Office for months now. They demand prosecution of President Islam Karimov for violation of the Constitution that denies one and the same person more than two terms of office in a row. The head of state for over 16 years now, Karimov was elected the president for the third time in December 2007. His supporters claim that amendment of the Constitution voided his previous terms of office.
Uznews.Net, Uzmetronom, March 14, 2008
