Protesters invaded the seat of power in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, early on Tuesday.
They are contesting the results of Sunday's parliamentary elections and have released the former president, Almazbek Atambayev from prison.
They demand the resignation of President Sooronbay Jeenbekov and the holding of legislative news.
Accusations of fraud, including vote buying, tarnished Sunday's elections.
The head of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) mission, Thomas Boserup, came to observe the ballot, judged that the elections were "generally well" but that "credible allegations of 'voice purchases cause serious concern'.
"No one was trying to protect the former president"
The cell of the former president, who was serving an eleven-year prison sentence and is a former protégé of the current president, was in the building of the Committee for National Security.
A witness who participated in entering Parliament but requested anonymity said that the protesters forced a passage.
"No one was trying to protect him when the crowd entered."
"We stopped, we sang the national anthem and we entered the building without meeting any resistance," he added, specifying that only a few "technical agents" were inside and left. quickly withdrawn.
Photos released by the Kyrgyz service of Radio Free Europe, a US-funded radio station, showed protesters strolling through the main center of power.
President Sooronbay Jeenbekov, however, let it be known on Tuesday morning that he "controls the situation" and expresses his "confidence" that "the political forces will place the country's interest above theirs".
On Monday, at least 120 people were hospitalized in Bishkek after clashes between the police and demonstrators who challenged the results of parliamentary elections dominated by two parties close to power.
Half of the wounded are part of the police.
Footage of Kyrgyz police forcibly breaking up a protest in the country's capital following disputed parliamentary elections.
Bishkek hospitals reported that they treated more than 120 patients who sustained injures during the violence.
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- Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (@RFERL) October 5, 2020
The demonstration was organized at the call of five political parties which failed to meet the 7% threshold required to enter parliament.
In an attempt to ease tensions, Sooronbay Jeenbekov's office announced Monday evening that the 61-year-old president, elected in 2017, would meet on Tuesday the leaders of 16 parties that took part in the poll.
The pro-presidential Birimdik party, which came in first with 25% of the vote, has announced that it accepts the idea of a new election, calling on all other parties which have passed 7% to do the same.
A democratic island in the middle of authoritarian countries
Birimdik and the Mekenim Kyrgyzstan party, both pro-Jeenbekov and in favor of Bishkek's deeper integration into the Eurasian Economic Union promoted by Russia, are neck and neck with about a quarter of the vote.
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The clashes continued, however, into the night in the streets surrounding Ala-Too Square.
According to many witnesses, the shops in the city center have removed their products from the stalls for fear of possible looting.
This square was the starting point for two revolutions in 2005 and 2010 which successively overthrew two authoritarian presidents.
Surrounded by authoritarian regimes, Kyrgyzstan, a poor mountainous country, is a democratic exception in Central Asia, even if political transitions have always been stormy.
