“The acting head of the government, Roza Otunbayeva, said at a news conference that the president, Kurmanbek S. Bakiyev, had been offered safe passage into exile if he agreed to step down... Mr. Bakiyev, who fled to the south of the country on Wednesday, has refused to give up power and has made vague threats about trying to re-establish his authority... As many as 75 people were killed and more than 400 were wounded when riot police officers opened fire on antigovernment demonstrators here on Wednesday, provoking a violent backlash that left many of those same police officers bloodied and running for their lives. Protesters burned and looted government buildings and businesses, and President Bakiyev was forced to flee.”
-Michael Schwartz, The New York Times, April 9, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/10/world/europe/10kyrgyz.html?src=mv
If titles are irrelevant
Why bother saying 'Presidents?'
Must blind men fondle elephants
To hear the charge and resonance
Of feet that bear the mass of fate?
And why would they waste time with chat?
Enumerate the style and gait
Of that which seeks to crush them flat?
The early humans nearly died
Before they took to spear and axe—
Before they learned to hunt in prides,
They fled from beasts and wild attacks.
When prey evolves from tribe to mob
Then riot gear cannot defeat
What's otherwise dismissed by snobs.
The rioters must eat elites.
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