Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev, facing violent protests in the south over an election the opposition says was rigged, on Tuesday defiantly backed the poll as legitimate but ruled out using force to end the unrest.

Akayev broke silence over the protests, in which opposition supporters have seized control of two southern towns in the ex-Soviet Central Asian country, telling newly elected deputies they were part of a body of "high and indisputable legitimacy."

But protesters ruling the country's second city of Osh, which was being patrolled by local men in red arm-bands, said the president had to resign, pledging to govern independently from the capital Bishkek until he did so.

Akayev refused to quit but pledged not to use force to end the protests, which he said were organized by unspecified foreign powers to provoke large-scale force in response.

"All this is designed to provoke the government into using massive use of force. I want to state firmly that I, as a president, will never resort to such steps," he said.

The bazaars and tea houses of Osh, a dusty low-rise city near the Uzbek border which was abandoned by uniformed police after protesters attacked them with petrol bombs and sticks, were quieter than usual on Tuesday but still open.

But Akayev ruled out agreeing to the protesters' key demand and ending his 14-year rule of his homeland, which borders China and lies in an energy-rich region where Washington and Moscow vie for influence. Both powers have air bases near Bishkek.

"The people who set themselves up as leaders of the opposition cannot formulate acceptable conditions for talks," he said in a televised speech mocking the opposition.

"As far as my resignation is concerned, a decision on this is not to be taken by rallies ... this can be taken only by the people or parliament."

The violent anti-Akayev protests followed peaceful revolutions in two other former Soviet republics -- Ukraine and Georgia -- that brought Western-leaning leaders to power.

Unlike the upheavals in Ukraine and Georgia, the unrest in Kyrgyzstan appears to lack a central opposition rallying figure and demonstrators have resorted to violence -- something that worried some Osh residents.

Source: Agencies