Police used batons to forcibly evict stone-throwing demonstrators from two government buildings they had occupied to protest alleged fraud in Kyrgyzstan's parliamentary elections, officials said Sunday. Several protesters and at least one police officer were injured in the raids late Saturday, officials and witnesses said. An unspecified number of demonstrators were arrested, Deputy Interior Minister Abdylda Suranchiyev said. The buildings were occupied as part of nationwide protests sparked by the Feb. 27 parliamentary polls in which President Askar Akayev's allies fared overwhelmingly well. Critics claim the vote and a subsequent runoff election were marred by widespread abuses, according to a report of the Associated Press. Though police cleared the hundreds of protesters from the two buildings in the southern cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad, five other state buildings remain occupied in southern and western districts.
