It's a simple formula in some parts of the world: Rally in public, call for justice and better living conditions -- and get shot by government troops.

Thank God that in Uzbekistan, the government is an ally of both the U.S. and Russia in the fight against terrorism.

An excerpt from the BBC story:

Thousands gathered in central Andijan to call for better living conditions.

Nine died in early fighting, before troops opened fire on huge crowds and exchanged fire with armed protesters.

Tensions flared in Andijan on Thursday night when thousands of prisoners were freed from a city jail by a crowd angry at the imprisonment of 23 local men on charges of Islamic extremism.

Uzbek officials refused to negotiate with the protesters, who they branded as "rebels". ...

Eyewitnesses in the square told how protesters lay flat on the ground as troops fired into the crowds. One spoke of "indiscriminate firing", and said she saw "bloody corpses" lying in a ditch.

Hospital officials told the BBC that dozens had died and many more were wounded throughout the day. ...

Andijan is the barometer of feeling for a long, densely-populated valley called Ferghana with a long tradition of independent thought, and the authoritarian government in Tashkent has always eyed the valley with suspicion, says the BBC's Monica Whitlock, in Uzbekistan.

The government has locked up probably thousands of local young men, many of them prominent members of the community, accusing them of Islamic extremism.

The violence prompted neighbouring Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to shut their borders with Uzbekistan. Protests in Kyrgyzstan in March resulted in the overthrow of its then President, Askar Akayev.

Here's a BBC backgrounder on tensions in other Central Asian republics.