VIOLENT SUPPRESSION IN KYRGYZSTAN:

Riot police have violently broken up an anti-government protest hours after Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev named a hardliner to take charge of security.

Akayev, who promised not to resort to a massive use of force against demonstrators on Tuesday, named the head of police in the capital Bishkek as new interior minister to deal with protests trying to force him from office and which are dividing the mountainous Central Asian country.

A short time later, riot police moved in and broke up an anti-Akayev demonstration of about 200 people in the capital.

Read the whole thing. And here’s a firsthand report from a high-ranking NGO official who was there, including this bit: “Most alarming was the re-appearance of people wearing white hats and red armbands. Large, threatening looking fellows, they pushed, shoved and generally made it clear that if people wanted trouble, they were ready to give it. It really is alarming the use of un-armed, non-uniformed thugs to enforce discipline. I really can only call them proto-fascists.”

UPDATE: Hmm. Reader Michael Marino notes that according to this NPR report the white-hatted folks are opposition members picking up for the police, who have gone on strike. That seems inconsistent with the report above, but I can’t tell which is right.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Nathan Hamm emails: ” The report is from the south, which is still under the control of protesters. The crackdown was in Bishkek, so the white hats are not the same in each account.”