On April 7, Kyrgyzstan celebrates the public holiday – Day of the People's April Revolution (Kyrgyzstan Eldik April Revolutions kunu), which has been an official day off since 2016.
The history of this holiday is interesting. The fact is that modern Kyrgyzstan has experienced two popular revolutions associated with a change of power. The first occurred on March 24, 2005 and went down in the history of the country as bloodless, since the removal and departure from power of President Askar Akayev was almost peaceful, although there were clashes between the police and protesting opposition supporters.
The reason for the revolution was the February parliamentary elections, the result of which was questioned by representatives of the political opposition. The rallies she initiated swept across the country, and by March 24, 2005 they reached Bishkek. As a result of clashes between the police and protesters, the Government House was the last to be seized. The president himself left the country with his family at that time.
As a result of the new presidential elections, the post of head of state was taken by one of the leaders of the opposition forces –, Kurmanbek Bakiev. And, in order to emphasize the importance of the revolution of March 24, 2005 on the path to democratization of the country, he established a new holiday in 2006, – People's Revolution Day, although this decision was made ambiguously by society. However, since 2006, a public holiday has been celebrated in Kyrgyzstan on March 24, the status of which as a non-working day has been legislated.
However, new political events that swept the country in 2010 also changed the list of holidays. On April 7, 2010, a new revolution occurred in Kyrgyzstan, caused by dissatisfaction with Bakiyev’s rule. He, like the former head of state, was accused of usurping power and moving away from the principles of democracy. But the second people's revolution cannot be called peaceful or bloodless, since the events were marked by the death of people.
Shots were fired from both sides of the – both from the presidential guard and from opposition representatives protesting and storming government buildings. As a result of the actions of the opposition, the buildings of the Parliament and the television center were seized, and the building of the Prosecutor General's Office was burned.
President Bakiyev managed to leave Bishkek, and then the country. Power passed to the provisional government. Then, during the confrontation, over 80 people died. New victims were brought by the unrest that swept the country after the April events and resulted in an interethnic, bloody conflict.
As a result, Almazbek Atambayev became the new president of Kyrgyzstan. In December 2011, he approved a new date – on April 7, and the name of the official public holiday – Day of the People's April Revolution. And in 2016, amendments were made to the current legislation, according to which, starting in 2016, the Day of the People's April Revolution was declared a non-working day.
Today, many festive events and mass celebrations are timed to coincide with this day throughout the country, in honor of the victory of the people in the struggle for the democratization of society. But it cannot do without mourning events in memory of those killed in those days – they are held at the Monument in memory of those killed for the freedom of the people during the Aksy events of 2002 and the April events of 2010.