A group of opposition and human rights campaigners rallied in the Uzbek capital today in the first public show of anger at President Islam Karimov since a violent suppression of a rebellion in the east.
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About 30 activists and independent Uzbek reporters gathered in central Tashkent to lay flowers to commemorate the deaths of an estimated 500 people who died when Uzbek troops opened fire on protesters in Andizhan last Friday.
"It was a black day in Uzbek history. We are ashamed," said Tashpulat Yuldashev, a political analyst. "We dissidents have been long afraid of standing up to express our discontent. But this time we can't stay silent," he said as police officers, some in civilian clothes, silently looked on.
Many of the activists were wearing black armbands and ribbons. The rebellion in Andizhan, blamed by Mr Karimov on Islamic extremists, has given the country's fragmented and disorganised opposition movement a fresh momentum to unite and openly express opinions, Mr Yuldashev said.
Opposition parties are banned from running in Uzbek elections, and many local human rights groups say they cannot officially register with authorities, putting them in a legal limbo.
The central Asian state's tightly controlled television station has paid little attention to the events in Andizhan, focusing on cultural programmes instead. Western and Russian broadcasts have been cut off since Friday.
"We are in the dark about what happened to our brothers and sisters in Andizhan, about this tragedy," said human rights defender Ilmira Khasanova, bursting into tears and angrily clutching her bouquet of red carnations.
"The president will have to answer for the deaths of hundreds of innocent children, women and men, for their blood, for the genocide of the Uzbek people."
Uzbekistan has come under strong Western criticism for its clampdown on dissent, the jailing of thousands of religious and political prisoners and the use of torture in jails.
Mr Karimov, a former Communist party boss in power since before the Soviet collapse, cites the spread of Islamic militancy as the reason for his tough style of governance.
"People are very afraid. But we are beginning to realise that if we don't come out today, we'll never be able to come out," said Agzam Turgunov of the secular ERK party.
"As opposition campaigners we are not going to stay silent: we will organise more rallies, first in Tashkent and then in other cities. And we are not afraid of arrests."