DUSHANBE, May 10, Asia-Plus  - Five persons were injured and taken to hospital on May 9 as a police cruiser hit celebrating crowd in the Victory Park in Dushanbe. 

According to the Ministry of Interior (MoI), the accident took place Friday morning after completion of the military parade, “five persons were injured and taken to hospital.”  Two of them have already been discharged from hospital and three others are still in hospital, the source at a MoI said.   

According to him, the first deputy chief of the Dushanbe police directorate, Nusratullo Bayonov, was at the wheel.  The source said Bayonov had lost control of the vehicle on the slippery road (it had been raining in Dushanbe on May 9).     

The cause of the traffic accident is under investigation.   

We will recall that 2,000 servicemen from the Dushanbe Garrison of the Ministry of Defense were on parade to mark the 63rd anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.  The military parade that was held in the Victory Park did not include military materiel.  Tajik Defense Minister Colonel-General Sherali Khairulloyev and Commander of the Dushanbe Garrison Major-General Latif Fayziyev, commanded the parade.

The celebrations involved chairman of the upper chamber (Majlisi Milli) of Tajik parliament Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev, other Tajik state officials, war veterans, representatives of the public.  President Emomali Rahmon did not take part in the celebrations.