Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said on June 5 that it has detained six people, including two teenaged girls, in the southern region of Jalal-Abad for allegedly desecrating the Central Asian nation's flag last week. On May 30, two Kyrgyz national flags were removed from schools in the Suzak district's village of Bek-Abad and burned. The two flags were replaced with white banners carrying a religious statement in Arabic. According to the UKMK, those detained are members of Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic group that is labeled extremist and banned in the former Soviet republic. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.
Kyrgyzstan Detains 6 People Suspected Of Desecrating National Flag
People wave Kyrgyz flags in Bishkek. (file photo)