Riots
The violence began on 4 June in the city of Uzgen, where the local militsiya (the local Soviet police force) used considerable force to quell the demonstrations. Some of the local militsiyas expressed loyalties to their own ethnic counterparts by taking part in the riots. Although supplies and vehicles used in the attacks were predominantly stolen by the young rioters, some local Kyrgyz elites who did not openly take part in the violence lent supplies and vehicles to the demonstrators.
The worst of the large-scale clashes occurred in the cities of Osh and Uzgen. The violence was not just confined to urban zones; in the villages surrounding Uzgen and the Osh countryside, Kyrgyz herders, often going by horseback, terrorized Uzbek farmers with rape, murder, and property destruction. In the foothills of Baka Archa, four Kyrgyz shepherds rode many miles to kill an Uzbek beekeeper. Uzbek tea houses (choyxonas) were also targeted, and several reports involve the abduction and rape of female tea house-goers.
In Frunze (now Bishkek), protesters demanded that the leaders of the Kyrgyz SSR resign. On 6 June, Gorbachev finally called in the Red Army under the Soviet Ministry of Interior to enter the area of the conflict and stay stationed only within cities. The Uzbek-Kyrgyz border was sealed off to prevent Uzbeks from the neighboring Uzbek SSR from joining the riots.
Official estimates of the death toll range from over 300 to more than 600. Unofficial figures range up to more than 1,000. According to unofficial estimates, more than 5,000 crimes were committed during the riots ranging from pillaging to murder. About 4,000 incidents were officially investigated and 3,215 acts of crime were registered. According to witnesses and personal testimonies, most of the rioters were young males, 29% of which were teenagers. Personal testimonies from victims, witness and participants revealed chemical intoxication was a significant influence on the rioters' actions.
Read more about this topic: Osh Riots (1990)