Supporters of Kyrgyzstan's deposed president broke into a regional government office in the southern city of Jalalabad today in a sign of persistent tension in the Central Asian state.
Witnesses saw a crowd of some 500 people massing outside the building demanding the return of Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was toppled in a violent revolt on 7 April and fled the country.
Local officials could not be reached by telephone and witnesses said no police could be seen in central Jalalabad, a city at the heart of Mr Bakiyev's tribal stronghold in the south.
He fled to neighbouring Kazakhstan on Thursday in a deal brokered by the US, Russia and Kazakhstan after a week of tension threatened to boil over into civil war in the volatile ex-Soviet republic.
The provisional government, led by ex-foreign minister Roza Otunbayeva, says all parts of the country are under its control.
But witnesses said the crowd in Jalalabad hurled stones at Bolotbek Sherniyazov, the interim interior minister, after he arrived in the city to lead a security operation to arrest a number of Bakiyev loyalists.
He was whisked away unscathed.
Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous Muslim country of 5.3 million, hosts a crucial US air base and the turmoil disrupted US military flights to operations in nearby Afghanistan for days.
Mr Bakiyev has not said where he could fly on to, and there are conflicting reports about his whereabouts.
Kazakh officials said they could not comment on Mr Bakiyev's plans.
He and his brother have been accused of ordering troops to open fire on protestors after anti-Bakiyev demonstrations exploded into a night of gunfire and chaos on 7 April.
At least 84 people died in the violence.
