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Kyrgyzstan police arrest MPs over mine protests


    BISHKEK (Reuters) - Kyrgyz police on Thursday arrested three members of parliament who led a crowd that tried to storm the government headquarters in a protest over a Canadian-owned gold mine.

    Wednesday's clashes between police and supporters of the opposition Ata Zhurt party were the most violent in the capital Bishkek since the April 2010 revolt that ousted then-president Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

    The protesters want the mine, crucial to Kyrgyzstan's fragile economy, to be nationalised.

    The three parliamentarians are being held on suspicion of trying to seize power. Prosecutors have 48 hours to decide whether to charge them.

    (Writing by Dmitry Solovyov and Robin Paxton; Editing by Angus MacSwan)