Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 4, 1993 TAG: 9310040083
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Associated Press, Newsday and the Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
Authorities said at least 24 civilians and soldiers were killed, and as many 100 were injured.
There were signs that forces loyal to President Boris Yeltsin were reasserting control early today. A reported 1,500 troops secured strategic points. Armored vehicles, including tanks, took up positions outside the Kremlin and Defense Ministry.
A Yeltsin spokesman said commanders of Russia's military districts had pledged loyalty to the president.
The Interfax news agency, quoting "informed sources close to the president," said Yeltsin would agree to simultaneous elections for president and Parliament - a significant concession that Yeltsin had ruled out as late as Friday. The report could not be confirmed.
The Clinton administration Sunday signaled that it would continue its support of Yeltsin if he used the armed forces to end what Washington sees as mob rule.
Yeltsin declared a state of emergency, giving police and troops power to crack down on the protesters - an odd mix of Communists, fascists, former Soviet soldiers and extreme nationalists united by their opposition to Yeltsin.
Thousands of unarmed Yeltsin supporters took to the streets to support the president, who dissolved parliament Sept. 21 in an effort to end his long power struggle with the Soviet-era legislature bent on hobbling his reforms.
The anti-government protesters struck suddenly and fiercely Sunday, beating riot police in street fighting and seizing Moscow's headquarters of city government.
They attacked the country's main television complex with rocket-propelled grenades, but were repulsed by paratroopers in armored personnel carriers using machine guns. Authorities said they believed dozens had been killed there.
Elsewhere, at least 20 civilians were killed and more than 100 were injured, said Igor Nadezhdin, an official with Moscow's main medical authority. In addition, fighting killed four soldiers and injured dozens, city officials said.
"We have to take the Kremlin," Speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov had told the parliament, referring to the government seat of power where Yeltsin was in his office.
On orders from rebel Vice President Alexander Rutskoi, right-wing forces seized the mayor's office, dragging the deputy mayor and other officials out at gunpoint.
Keywords:
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by CNB