BISHKEK - Several protestors continued to occupy Kyrgyzstan's supreme court and others rallied outside the parliament and government buildings on Thursday as unrest following president Askar Akayev's ousting continued, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
A police cordon guarded the supreme court to prevent more protestors joining those who got in on Wednesday night, most of whom were women.
Those inside and several hundred more outside appeared somewhat fragmented, supporting three different candidates whom the courts have stripped of victory in different constituencies since anger at parliamentary polls in February and March led to Akayev's ousting on March 24.
"We came here in support of Toktusun Madiyarov, who won the elections but had his mandate seized by the son-in-law of the former head of the presidential administration," said one of the court's occupiers, Zhumgal Sooronov.
"This was not just and we are demanding the supreme court's resignation," Sooronov told AFP.
Elsewhere in Bishkek around 150 protestors gathered outside the government building known as the White House and another 200 outside the parliament.
Protests have become an almost daily phenomenon in central Bishkek since Akayev was ousted and fled the country, most of them involving a few hundred people.
On the edge of town several thousand impoverished landless people continue to occupy vacant land plots and farmland they are demanding the right to build on.
Long considered more liberal than several of its neighbours, Kyrgyzstan has established a tradition of taking election disputes to court since it broke from Soviet rule in 1991.
Critics say the new leadership of interim President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has not helped itself by making a number of questionable appointments, prompting some critics to claim it is little different from Akayev's administration.
Parliament has called presidential elections for July 10, while some would also like to see polls re-run in still-contested parliamentary seats.
On Tuesday the country's security service said it had opened a criminal case for alleged financial crimes against Akayev's son-in-law Adil Toigonboyev, who is thought to be in neighbouring Kazakhstan, of which he is a citizen.
04/21/2005 12:47 GMT