Andijon Massacre

 During 2005, thousands of Uzbeks participated in demonstrations in the eastern city of Andijon. They were protesting the trial and imprisonment of twenty-three local businessmen blamed for being Muslim extremists. At first, the demonstrations were peaceful, but in May 2005, an armed group stormed the Andijon prison and freed the twenty-three businessmen, along with hundreds of other prisoners. Protests continued, and Uzbek troops entered the city. Supposedly the troop’s opened fire on the demonstrators, though the government blamed armed protesters for the violence. Eyewitnesses said hundreds of people were killed. The government said one-hundred eighty-seven people died, though it did not allow an independent investigation into the violence. Claiming they were terrorists, the government had arrested and convicted at least seventy people in connection with the uprising by December 2005.