Walked by the White House on Friday and found this.
The government plans to tear down the illegal market stalls sprawling out from Osh Bazaar, which cause horrendous congestion and dangerous traffic conditions (personal opinion, I’ve experienced it).
Those people, the ones who run the stalls considered illegal, were the ones at the rally. These are the people who can’t afford the 40,000 soms (~$840) to legally buy a spot within the bazaar, or the 20,000 soms (~$420) rent on top of that. The average salary in Kyrgyzstan is $134 a month.
The Kyrgyz parliament, which has no ability to interfere with Bishkek city matters, recommended that the mayor abort the plans to demolition the illegal stalls. The mayor recommended that the illegal stall owners just move to other markets, less popular markets located further from the city center.
It would be nice to get into the bazaar without the Frogger-like conditions and wading through layers of rotten, discarded persimmons on the sidewalks, but who am I to complain? It’s doesn’t affect my livelihood either way.
Like so many other pressing issues weighing on the new government, I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what the solution will be, or if there even is an effective solution at all. The demolition was planned for last Saturday, so I’ll see what it looks like when Farrell and I go there tomorrow to get a good deal on potatoes.
When we walked by again two hours later, the crowd had significantly dwindled. Another two hours and everybody was gone.