BISHKEK: More than one thousand protestors gathered outside Kyrgyzstan`s parliament in the capital Bishkek on Thursday, demanding a meeting with the ex-Soviet state`s interim government.

The demonstrators -- supporters of businessman and political leader Urmat Baryktobasov -- demanded that interim president Roza Otunbayeva meet with them immediately, as well as put an end to a criminal investigation against him.

"We demand that Otunbayeva come out to see us, and explain her further plans and stop the investigation against our leader, Baryktobasov," one protest leader shouted from a stage set up in front of parliament.

"Why don`t they come out? Why are they afraid of their people?" he added.

Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished former Soviet republic bordering China, has been wracked by political chaos and ethnic violence since the ouster of former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev in bloody street protests in April.

Otunbayeva, a former ambassador to both the United States and Britain, has struggled to impose order, particularly in the country`s restive southern regions where ethnic riots killed more than 350 people in June.

BDST: 1800 HRS, August 05, 2010