Vendors from the Urgench city market in Uzbekistan, angered by a proposal to move the market from downtown to the outskirts of the city, have held the first public protest in the country since the Andijan Massacre in 2005.

At Andijan, the government of Islam Karimov brutally smashed demonstrations aimed at freeing 23 alleged-Islamist businessmen. The official death toll from that incident is 187, but outside human rights groups and Uzbek eyewitnesses put the actual toll closer to 1,000. Since this ferocious governmental show of force three years ago against unarmed protestors, no demonstrations of any kind had taken place in Uzbekistan... until this past Monday.

On March 31, 2008, hundreds of market vendors, mostly women, took to the streets to protest a plan to move their stalls to the edge of Urgench. They marched to the city council building, where they were met by soldiers wearing bullet-proof vests and helmets. Wisely, the protestors then faded away rather than confronting the riot squad.

Those elderly market-ladies can have really sharp elbows, it's true... But riot gear? Is that really necessary?