Postcard from Bishkek

Under the Soviet regime, content of the “News” was strictly controlled – and almost anything that could be considered to be negative was duly censored.  As a result there was little known about episodes of social unrest and disorder within the Union, yet alone in the wider world beyond the country’s borders.

In 1967, Frunze (Bishkek) witnessed an incident described by one source as “unbridled violence”.

One in morning in the middle of May, a group of policemen on patrol in the central bazaar (which at that time was on the site of what is Victory Park – Park Pobeda) arrested and beat a drunken soldier.  Some of the surrounding shoppers mistakenly thought that the soldier was dead and set upon the surprised policemen.  Apparently the crowd included a number of Uighur and Dungan stallholders and the situation was further complicated by a general dissatisfaction about paying bribes.

During the afternoon the situation deteriorated into a riot – the police headquarters was stormed – and most of the police stations throughout the city were also attacked.  Traffic in the city came to a standstill.  Policemen were dragged from their cars and beaten up and a crowd of about 5000 people marched on the headquarters of the KGB – only to be repulsed by soldiers.

During the night reinforcements (from army and KGB units) were flown into the city and surrounded the official administrative buildings … bringing the incident to a close.

Several of the stallholders were arrested and imprisoned on charges of inciting the riot … and because of their nationality – the incident was portrayed as a Chinese plot.