When People Power Is a Problem

But the father of one the businessmen in jail told Forum 18 that Akramia was a much less political offshoot of Hizb-ut-Tahrir that is being prosecuted for its local popularity.

"All of the detainees were devout believers and entrepreneurs," the man told Forum 18 in February. "They set up a mutual benefit fund and tried to help one another in commercial matters, following Islamic teachings." Their companies gradually became well-known throughout Andijan for promoting a higher minimum wage and charitable activities, he said.

Karimov said the armed protestersrefused to negotiate, according to the pro-government UzReport.com When they tried to escape, the troops pursued them and opened fired, resulting in the deaths of about 10 policemen and a greater number of rebels, along with 100 wounded.

Two eyewitnesses told Reuters a different story on Sunday. They said that troops riding an armored personnel carrier fired a machine gun into a crowd of rebels, protesters and onlookers including women and children.

"The first to be killed were 10 police who were being held hostage and begged the soldiers not to fire, said the witnesses, a local businessman and a driver who asked not to be identified."

Daniil Kislov, director of the independent Central Asian Information Center, confirmed that the rebels had engaged in looting before the government troops opened fire but otherwise blamed the government. He told Fergana.ru, a regional news site, that his staff had seen 110 corpses.

By late Monday, the BBC was reporting that violence had erupted in other towns in eastern Uzbekistan and that "several hundred people" had been killed. Aljazeera.net put the death toll at 700.

The cause of the rebellion, most online observers agree, is Karimov's authoritarian rule. Last year, Human Rights Watch said that the Uzbekistan government's repressive policies are "creating enemies of the state."

But journalist Azamat Alikov writing in Eurasianet.org says there is a personal element too.

The "fabulous wealth" of the president and his family has stirred animosity, he says. Karimov's 32-year old daughter, he reports, is a Harvard graduate who has "built up a gigantic business empire, which includes everything from nightclubs and restaurants to travel agencies, a cement plant, and a mobile-phone provider."

In the Persian Gulf, the pro-Western Khaleej Times says, "Karimov is trying to play on the US concerns on terrorism by blaming the weekend violence on 'fundamentalists and terrorists.' However, the West would do well to avoid helping the tottering tyrant. It's people's power that is at play in Uzbekistan."