Several dozen champions of the withdrawal of the Ganci, or Manas, base rallied outside the American University in Central Asia, where U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher is to appear at some point during his current official visit.
Rally participants, who represent political as well as public movements, said they had expected Boucher to show up at the university Thursday, and had gathered in the hope of putting their demands across to him. But Bakyt Beshimov, the institution's vice president, said the U.S. official would arrive Saturday to attend a diploma awarding ceremony.
Public pressure to shut down the Ganci base, set up in 2001 to support the U.S.-led military operation in neighboring Afghanistan, has been mounting following a series of incidents involving American service personnel.
Last December, a U.S. airman shot dead a Kyrgyz truck driver employed at the base, allegedly after the local threatened him with a knife, but Washington refused to strip the American national of his immunity so that he could stand trial in Kyrgyzstan.
Also, a military tanker aircraft from the Ganci base, located some 17 miles east of the Kyrgyz capital, collided with a Kyrgyz commercial aircraft last year, causing substantial material damage and putting the life of passengers at risk.
Nevertheless, the Kyrgyz government reaffirmed its commitment to maintain the U.S. airbase on its territory after the Americans agreed last year to pay higher rent. Some $150 million now comes into the impoverished post-Soviet state's coffers in annual rental fees.
Last Saturday, several dozen activists called for the base's closure at a rally in front of the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek. They demanded that the airman guilty of killing the Kyrgyz driver be brought to justice and that the base's impact on the environment be assessed in an independent inquiry.
