On the night of May 17 to May 18, an angry crowd turned against South Asian students and workers in Bishkek. The attack occurred after a video was published on social media of an incident between Kyrgyz men and several foreigners, that took place several days earlier.

Foreigners, particularly from South Asia, were attacked in Bishkek on the night of May 17 to May 18. According to the Kyrgyz media outlet Kloop, the attack was the result of outrage caused by a clip on social media. This footage, that was published anonymously, shows several men beating up a Kyrgyz man in the courtyard of a hostel on May 13. At the time, the men were identified as South Asian students.

The video, which went viral, sparked outrage among some Kyrgyz, who saw the incident as a “humiliation for their nation”, as reported by Eurasianet.

Kloop reports that various social media began to report the death of a participant in the brawl. These claims were denied by the police.

Later, on May 20, a statement from the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry provided much needed context to the footage: after being harassed outside, the foreign students returned to the hostel where they were staying. The assailants followed them and began ransacking the residence, stealing some of their belongings. As the Kyrgyz men entered the female dormitories, the foreign residents retaliated and hit the attackers in turn.

Riots get out of hand

However, the images had already been interpreted differently. Around one hundred people gathered near the hostel to voice their discontent about the incident on May 17, demanding justice.

To calm the crowd, the police arrested the three foreign nationals involved in the scuffle and opened an investigation into hooliganism. The Ministry of the Interior even published a video showing the men in question – Egyptians, not South Asians – apologising to the Kyrgyz people and promising to accept their share of responsibility for the violence.

But their detention did not lessen the crowd’s discontent. Instead, people started to block the road in response to attempts by the police to disperse the crowd. Despite the arrest of ten protesters, the demonstration did not disperse and several hundreds more joined. Later, around fifty people were arrested. At around 1 a.m., stones were thrown at the student dormitories and several foreign students were beaten up.

The crowd dispersed at dawn

The police have not only started a case against the three detainees involved in the incident that was recorded several days earlier, but also against some of the demonstrators – for hooliganism as well.

The rioters, mainly young men, used social media throughout the night to encourage others to join. By 3 a.m., around 1,000 people had gathered in the city centre, according to the Kyrgyz media outlet Kaktus Media.

The police addressed the demonstrators and promised that all those responsible would be brought to justice. The demonstrators finally began to disperse at around five in the morning after multiple warnings by the police, and with the help of a popular influencer who convinced the crowd to leave.

Radio Free Europe described the unrest as the worst seen in Bishkek since the elections of 2020 that brought current president Sadyr Japarov to power. The police’s inability to maintain order has also caused concern.

Around forty injured

Eurasianet reported that a total of 41 foreigners sought medical assistance following the attack on May 17, 11 of whom were still in Bishkek hospitals on May 20.

The Pakistani embassy in Kyrgyzstan reported that 14 Pakistani students were injured on the night of the riots, Kloop added. The diplomatic mission denied reports of the deaths of Pakistani citizens.

The victims received a visit from the Health Minister, Alymkadyr Beïchenaliev. According to the minister, foreign students will be treated free of charge at the request of the President of Kyrgyzstan.

Demands in the face of immigration

While the demonstrators were demanding that the foreigners involved in the incident filmed on May 13 would be prosecuted, they were also calling for an end to labour migration from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, explains Radio Free Europe.

In recent years, thousands of nationals from these countries have come to study or work in Kyrgyzstan, while at the same time hundreds of thousands of Kyrgyz are leaving the country in search of work.

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“It’s a new phenomenon. These migrants are just about everywhere. In taxi services, in car washes, as couriers in food delivery services. They are prepared to work and live for 300 dollars”, said Edil Baïsalov, Deputy Minister of Social Affairs in an interview with The Insider. “Of course, we expel those who violate the law and the visa regime […] Above all, we want to create jobs for our citizens”.

The head of Kyrgyzstan’s intelligence services, Kamtchybek Tachiev, said that the protesters’ demands were “to a certain extent correct”. Referring to official statistics, he said that the main violators of the migration law were Pakistani and Bangladeshi citizens. According to him, there are a total of around 5,000 illegal migrants in Kyrgyzstan, including 1,360 Pakistanis and 1,300 Bangladeshis.

An already complicated situation for foreign workers

The recent violence was a rare outburst of xenophobia. Two days before these events, the police had announced that delivery services employing 400 foreign students, most of them from Pakistan, had been shut down on grounds of road safety problems.

On the same day, Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security arrested 28 Pakistani nationals for “illegally working” in a sewing workshop in Bishkek.

Foreigners repatriated

By the morning of May 21, more than 1,200 nationals had already returned to Pakistan on chartered flights, reports Radio Free Europe: planes took off from Bishkek for the Pakistani cities of Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar. The Pakistani and Indian embassies have advised their citizens not to leave the country unless necessary.

On the same day, Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Ministry said that Pakistani Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar would visit Kyrgyzstan and meet with Kyrgyz officials to discuss the situation of Pakistani students in Bishkek.

Fears for Kyrgyzstan’s reputation

The Kyrgyz authorities are trying to defuse tensions and reassure foreign students. President Sadyr Japarov gave a speech on May 20 in which he declared that “all those responsible for the attacks on foreign students will be punished. We have succeeded in building a state based on the rule of law. That is why we will support order”.

Edil Baïsalov visited the dormitory that had been attacked, apologising and offering students a guarantee of safety. “Your parents and relatives should know that there is no threat to you in Kyrgyzstan and that the authorities bear full responsibility for your well-being. The events of one night do not reflect the attitude of our people towards you”, said the deputy minister.

However, like others, journalist Chris Rickleton recalls the arrest of publicist Oljobai Shakir, sentenced to five years in prison in May after criticising the Kyrgyz authorities for transferring several spa centres near Issyk Kul Lake to the Uzbek government. He was convicted of “inciting riots”. There is no guarantee that the young people who actually called for riots on the night of May 18 will receive such a harsh sentence.

Zoé Toulouse
Editor for Novastan

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