The Great Game

His office said a review would be held in districts of the Central Asian state where the poll results had sparked "a strong public reaction".

The announcement came as opposition protesters seized two towns, including the country's second city Osh.

Protests in the south started after run-off elections on 13 March.

The opposition had only won a handful of seats in the nation's 75-seat parliament.

Demonstrators are now trying to force the president to step down.

But a spokesman for Mr Akayev on Monday said the president was ready to hold talks with the opposition.

"The most important thing right now is to let people calm down, assess what has happened and then start negotiations with them about their demands," Reuters news agency reported the spokesman as telling Kyrgyz television.

The protests have drawn comparisons with other popular upheavals in the former Soviet states of Georgia and Ukraine, although Mr Akayev has warned that such an development would risk civil war in Kyrgyzstan.

On Monday, some 1,000 protesters stormed the regional government building and police headquarters in Osh and forced police to flee.

The BBC's Central Asia correspondent, Monica Whitlock, says most security forces seem to have escaped unhurt, but rioters caught two, beat them up, and paraded them on horseback around the square.

The demonstrations came after about 10,000 people besieged and then burnt down the police station in Jalal-Abad on Sunday and blocked the airport's runway to prevent the government flying in re-enforcements.

Four officers were beaten to death, police sources told Reuters news agency.

"The people are gathering their strength," Kubanishbek, a 47-year-old farmer told AFP news agency at a rally in Jalal Abad's main square attended by some 3,000 people.

"The aim is to kick out Akayev. The power should be in the hands of the people." (Link)

# posted by Jacob @ 3/21/2005 11:09:00 a.m.