BISHKEK, June 18: Kyrgyzstan’s authorities moved on Saturday to show they were fully in control following clashes between police and protestors amid fears for the Central Asian country’s stability before a July presidential poll.

A cordon of around 1,000 police officials guarded the main government complex known as the White House after security forces on Friday dispersed up to 7,000 demonstrators using batons and tear gas.

The cast iron fence surrounding the giant building had been repaired and numerous police officers patrolled the capital’s streets.

Security forces temporarily restricted entrance to the capital on Friday, setting up checkpoints around its perimeter, an interior ministry spokesman said.

“Now the situation is completely under our control,” Vice Prime Minister Danyar Usenov told reporters.

He said that Friday’s unrest, in which protestors seized the election commission’s office in the White House, had been orchestrated by people loyal to Askar Akayev, the ex-Soviet state’s ousted former leader.

Mr Akayev, who is in exile in Moscow, denied any involvement, rejecting claims that he was trying to delay the July 10 elections.

“I declare that neither myself, nor my children, nor my son-in-law have anything to do with yesterday’s events in Bishkek,” Mr Akayev told Russia’s Pervyi Kanal television.

Mr Usenov accused the Akayev loyalists of trying to force a delay in the July 10 poll, which Interim President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, swept to power following Mr Akayev’s March ouster, is seen as likely to win.

“There are forces interested in delaying the elections until the autumn... with participation of supporters of Akayev,” Mr Usenov said.

“We are doing everything so that the presidential election on July 10 takes place normally,” he told reporters.—AFP