The opposition leader in Kyrgyzstan said today she would lead an interim government until new elections in six months' time after violent demonstrations forced the president to flee the capital.
Roza Otunbayeva demanded the resignation of Kurmanbek Bakiyev, whom she helped bring to power five years ago, and said he was trying to rally supporters in his power base in southern Kyrgyzstan.
"People in Kyrgyzstan want to build democracy. What we did yesterday was our answer to the repression and tyranny against the people by the Bakiyev regime," said Otunbayeva, who once served as foreign minister under Bakiyev. "You can call this revolution. You can call this a people's revolt. Either way, it is our way of saying that we want justice and democracy."
Thousands of protesters have clashed with security forces throughout the country in the past two days, driving out local governments and seizing government headquarters in the capital, Bishkek.
There was no sign of police on the streets today in the aftermath of the protests that saw most of the government buildings in the capital, as well as Bakiyev's houses, looted or set on fire. The two main markets were burned down. A paper portrait of Bakiyev at the government headquarters was smeared with red paint. Obscenities were spray-painted on buildings nearby.
The opposition said at least 100 people were killed yesterday. The health ministry put the death toll in Bishkek at 68 dead, and said 520 people had been injured.
Black smoke billowed from the White House, the main seat of government, after crowds rampaged through the building and set several rooms on fire.
The uprising, which began on Tuesday in a provincial town, was sparked by discontent over corruption, cronyism and rising prices in a country where a third of the 5.3 million population live below the poverty line.
Political unrest has gripped Kyrgyzstan since early March. Many protesters were angered by huge rises in prices for electricity and gas heating that went into effect in January and by opposition claims of government corruption.
In the past two years, Bakiyev's government has clamped down on the media, and opposition activists said they were routinely intimidated and targeted by politically motivated criminal investigations.
Bakiyev fled Bishkek to southern Kyrgyzstan, his traditional power base in a country split by clan rivalries. A witness said he arrived late yesterday at the airport in Osh, and Otunbayeva said later he was in his home region of Jalalabad.
"We want to negotiate his resignation," she said. "His business here is over ... The people who were killed here yesterday are the victims of his regime."
She said the entire country was under the control of the interim government, except for Osh and Jalalabad.
The US has a military air base supporting troops in Afghanistan in the Kyrgyz city of Manas and is a major donor to Kyrgyzstan, along with China and Russia, which also has a military base in the former Soviet state.
Otunbayeva said the new government would preserve an agreement allowing the US base to operate.
"Its status quo will remain in place. We still have some questions on it. Give us time and we will listen to all the sides and solve everything," she said.
Bakiyev announced that the base would close during a visit to Moscow last year at which he also secured $2bn in crisis aid, only to agree later to keep the base open at a higher rent.
Bakiyev came to power in the 2005 Tulip Revolution protests, led jointly by Otunbayeva, that ousted Kyrgyzstan's first post-Soviet president, Askar Akayev. She briefly served as acting foreign minister before falling out with Bakiyev.
Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, denied any involvement in the uprising but criticised Bakiyev's government for repeating Akayev's mistakes.
"These events caught me completely by surprise," Putin said. "When President Bakiyev came to power, he was very harshly critical of the fact that the relatives of the deposed President Akayev had taken positions throughout Kyrgyzstan's economy. I have the impression that Mr Bakiyev is stepping on these same rakes."
The US has urged respect for the rule of law.