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Kyrgyz groups set up protest rally HQ to demand reforms

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BISHKEK, April 17 (RIA Novosti) - Pro-reform groups in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan have set up a headquarters to organize protest rallies slated to start April 29, a former parliamentary speaker said Monday.

Omurbek Tekebayev, elected to run the new body, told journalists the HQ united representatives of roughly 20 of the country's biggest political parties and public organizations.

"We speak on behalf of citizens who want immediate constitutional reforms and the rule of law and order in our country," he said. "Only in this way can we achieve stability and prosperity."

Lawmaker and HQ member Temir Sariyev said the rally organizers planned to urge the authorities to meet demands voiced at an April 8 rally in the capital, Bishkek, that included the rule of law, the establishment of a constitutional democratic state, reforms to law-enforcement agencies, and a fight against corruption.

Protesters plan to get more than 10,000 people out onto Bishkek's central square, and also to organize numerous peaceful rallies in regional centers.

Former president Askar Akayev was deposed in the "tulip revolution" in March 2005, following accusations of corruption and authoritarianism, and fled to Russia. But since then the country has been in turmoil, and at the end of March much of Bishkek shut down as anti-government protesters took to the streets in rallies the administration feared could spark another uprising.

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