GUNFIRE echoed across Bishkek last night as Kyrgyzstan’s new leaders tried to quell looting that erupted after President Akayev was ousted in the third revolution in a former Soviet republic in 18 months.

Police and civilian vigilantes fired shots in the air and fought running battles with crowds of drunk young men beginning a second night of looting in the Kyrgyz capital.

“The city looks as if it has gone mad,” said Felix Kulov, the opposition leader released from prison on Thursday and appointed as security chief of an interim government.

“It’s an orgy,” he said. “We have arrested many people; we are trying to do something, but we physically lack people.”

Mr Akayev fled the country on Thursday after tens of thousands of opposition demonstrators overcame riot police and ransacked the presidential headquarters in protest at rigged parliamentary elections.

The opposition leaders who claimed his place have struggled to fill the power vacuum.

Yesterday they declared a 6pm to 6am curfew in the capital, but with streetlights out and many police still too scared to return to work some looters paid it little heed.

“The only way to stop this is to shoot someone, but I’ve been ordered not to,” said one police officer after firing in the air to scare off a dozen looters carting food and drink through the smashed windows of a grocery store in the city centre.

Kalbai Osmonulu, the owner, was cowering around the corner, his face bleeding from a scuffle with the youths.

“Bastards!” he said. “This not a revolution, this is just chaos!” Mr Akayev issued a statement from a secret location saying that he was still the President of Kyrgyzstan and would return. “A bunch of irresponsible adventurers and conspirators has taken the path of seizing power with force,” he said in the statement sent by e-mail to Kabar, the Kyrgyz news agency. He denied reports that he had resigned and urged those who had supported the “anti-constitutional coup” to restore constitutional order.

The chaos in Bishkek and Mr Akayev’s defiant words threatened to derail what opposition leaders have compared to the peaceful revolutions in Ukraine last year and Georgia in 2003.

The United States was demonstratively guarded in its response to the past two days’ events, describing the situation as “fluid” and refusing to endorse the new government. “Right now we’re not becoming involved in questions concerning recognition,” a State Department official said.

But the Opposition won an unexpected victory yesterday when President Putin of Russia declared that he was ready to work with them. “We know these people pretty well and they have done quite a lot to establish good relations between Russia and Kyrgyzstan,” Mr Putin said.

Russia had earlier condemned the protests as unlawful and accused Western observers of fomenting unrest by declaring the parliamentary elections undemocratic.

Russian officials accuse Western governments of funding and training opposition parties in former Soviet states to erode Moscow’s traditional sphere of influence. Russia and the US both have military bases in Kyrgyzstan, which they see as valuable strategic footholds in a volatile and energy-rich region on the borders of China.

Yesterday China closed a border crossing between its western Xinjiang region and Kyrgyzstan, citing the chaos in Bishkek and the need to guarantee the safety of passengers and freight. China has concerns the strife in Kyrgyzstan may spill over the border to Xinjiang, where many Muslim Uighurs hope for greater autonomy. Beijing has waged a relentless campaign against separatists in the desert region.

The Kyrgyz Opposition won just six out of 75 seats in parliament in the recent elections. Opposition leaders accused Mr Akayev of packing parliament with his friends and relatives so that they could change the constitution to prolong his rule.

Late on Thursday the parliament that was sitting before the election named Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the opposition leader, as acting Prime Minister and President. “Freedom has finally come to us,” Mr Bakiyev told a crowd in the central square where Thursday’s riot began.

He told The Times: “Our priority is to restore stability and order on the streets. The police will return to their jobs tonight and take all necessary steps to keep the peace.” Three people were killed and at least 100 hurt including 31 police officers, in the looting on Thursday night.

Mr Bakiyev later appointed prominent opposition figures to the posts of foreign, defence and finance ministers, and chief prosecutor. As Interior Minister, he picked Myktybek Abdyldayev, who was dismissed by Mr Akayev as Prosecutor-General on Wednesday.

Roza Otunbayeva, an opposition leader and former Ambassador to Britain, was named Foreign Minister. Mr Bakiyev also appointed governors of the northern Chui and the southern Osh and Jalalabad regions, which opposition protesters seized last weekend.

There was confusion about the whereabouts of the deposed President. Mr Putin suggested that Mr Akayev could go to Russia. But Mr Kulov said Mr Akayev had been turned away by Russia. Interfax reported that Mr Akayev and his family were in Kazakhstan. But an official there said he had left.

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