BISHKEK: An opposition coalition proclaimed a new interim government today in Kyrgyzstan after clashes left scores dead nationwide and said it would rule until elections are held in six months. It also urged the president, who has fled the capital, to resign.

Opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva, the former foreign minister, said parliament was dissolved and she would head the interim government. She said the new government controlled four of the seven provinces in the Central Asian nation, home to a key US military base supporting the fighting in Afghanistan that the opposition has said it wants to close.

Otunbayeva called on President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to resign. She said he had fled the capital of Bishkek to seek support in the central Jalal-Abad region. “His business in Kyrgyzstan is finished,” she said.

Thousands of protesters have clashed with security forces throughout the country in the last two days, driving out local governments and today seizing government headquarters in Bishkek.

The interim defence minister said the armed forces have joined the opposition and will not be used to disperse protesters.

Most of the government buildings in the capital, as well as Bakiyev's houses, have been looted or set on fire and two major markets were burned down. A paper portrait of Bakiyev at government headquarters was smeared with red paint. Obscenities about him were spray-painted on buildings nearby.

China today said it was “deeply concerned” about the violent uprising in its small western neighbour, echoing earlier comments by Russia and the United States. All three give aid to Kyrgyzstan, which has remained impoverished since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.