Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev Monday denied having ordered police to fire into the crowds of opposition protesters who were attempting to storm into the presidential office in central Bishkek last week.

Bakiyev, who fled the capital to southern Kyrgyzstan last Wednesday after a day of bloody unrest in central Bishkek, was speaking at a news conference in a town in the southern province of Jalalabad, the Kyrgyz national news agency reported.

Dozens of people died and hundreds more were injured last Wednesday when police fired gunshots into the crowds of protesters outside the presidential office in a bid to disperse them.