For obvious reasons protests have been centre stage this week. Akmatbaev and his crew eventually packed up on Thursday evening after talks with President Bakiev, meanwhile Ar Namys and pro-Kulov demonstrators were joined on Friday by KelKel for a protest under the slogan “Peaceful Citizens for Kyrgyzstan Without Organised Crime” - referring to the fact that there is a strong feeling that criminal authorities are able to influence politics in the country, a theme taken up by Erica Marat writing for the Eurasia Daily Monitor. Interestingly, Bermet Akaeva’s view that events have been fuelled by ongoing property redistribution looks quite plausible, though it has to be said that due to the vast number of rumours swirling around it is very much a case of pick your favourite conspiracy theory at the moment.

The protests, which have taken place in a fair number of towns outside of Bishkek as well including Osh and, less successfully, in Karakol eariler in the week, have been well-covered by the local and international media, with articles by RFE/RL(and an update on the continuation of the protests), AlertNet, IWPR (via Turkish Weekly) and extensively by Gazeta.kg. On Tuesday protesters demanding the immediate allocation of land added to the general mood of dissatisfaction, displaying slogans outside the White House.

The current state of affairs, which can best be described as tenuous in Eurasianet’s opinion, or legal nihilism in Bermet Akaeva’s, has even caused some people to question Kyrgyzstan’s future existence, reports KazInform. Meanwhile TOL asks the question “what went wrong with Kyrgyzstan’s tulip revolution?” which concludes, worryingly, that public patience is waning rapidly, making for a potentially explosive situation.

On a related note, RIA Novosti reports that conditions is Kyrgyz prisons are improving - one is left hoping it isn’t too little too late.

Other events have been largely overshadowed by political events, but AlertNet notes that cases of anthrax continue to be registered in the south of the country. On a financial note Gateway2Russia reports that Kyrgyzstan is set to demand payment of $31.467 million owed to it by six former Soviet republics. This could be problematic as at least 3 of the six countries in question do not recognise their debt…