Kyrgyz youth demands to shut down U.S. Transit Center
BISHKEK. May 7 (Interfax) - A Kyrgyz youth movement demanded the U.S. pull out of the Transit Center at the Bishkek Airport earlier than 2014 following the wreck of a U.S. Air Force refueling plane in the Chui region in northern Kyrgyzstan.
The protesters marched down the center of Bishkek under the signs "Clear the Country from Military Threat" and "Want a Plane to Fall Over Bishkek?" and "Go Swimming in Kerosene?" and flags of the Green Party.
Members of the youth movement Zhon Ele (Just Like That) and the Green Party took part in the action.
The protesters offered pedestrians to support the U.S. base pullout initiative with ripping a black sticker off the Kyrgyz state flag they were carrying.
Movement leader Ataya Beyshenbek uulu told reporters that the movement was founded especially to fight for the withdrawal of the U.S. base from Kyrgyzstan.
"This site jeopardizes the security of Kyrgyzstan. The plane crash in the Panfilovsky district [Chui region in northern Kyrgyzstan] on May 3 is an illustrative confirmation to that. Who can guarantee the next plane will not fall over Bishkek?" he wondered.
He added that the movement actions would be regular to insist on the Transit Center's pullout already this year before the Kyrgyz-U.S. intergovernmental agreement expired in summer 2014.
The search for the third body and the black box continues on the scene of the U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker crash. The Kyrgyz Emergency Situations Ministry reported the plane caught fire in mid-air and exploded before crashing on May 3.