37 Killed in Soviet Central Asia City : Ethnic unrest: Rumors of Armenian refugees spark ‘pogroms, excesses and robberies.’ Security forces were overwhelmed by rioters.

Rioting in the Soviet Central Asian city of Dushanbe has killed 37 people and overwhelmed security forces, Moscow Radio said today.

The radio report, monitored by the British Broadcasting Corp., said 80 people had been injured in two days of unrest in the city, capital of the republic of Tadzhikistan.

It said clashes between police and demonstrators had spread from the city center to the suburbs.

“The situation in the town is out of control. Skirmishes and fights were and are going on in more than 200 localities in the town,” the radio said.

“Pogroms, excesses and robberies are going on. According to preliminary estimates, 37 people were killed and 80 wounded since the beginning. Our forces are not enough. The emergency situation is not working.”

Authorities declared a state of emergency in Dushanbe on Monday after rioters attacked the building of the Communist Party Central Committee, setting it on fire, and rampaged through the city. An overnight curfew is in force.

Soviet authorities today airlifted frightened Armenians out of Dushanbe. The daily government newspaper said 127 Armenians--29 refugees from Baku, Azerbaijan, and the rest longtime residents of Dushanbe--left on the first emergency plane for the Armenian capital of Yerevan. It said a second flight with Armenians had also departed and two more were expected to leave tonight.

The Soviet news agency Tass said rumors of Armenian refugees coming from Baku sparked the rampage Monday.

Soviet television said the rioters, most of them youths, rampaged against Armenians living with relatives in Dushanbe after fleeing last month’s pogroms in Azerbaijan.

“The violence was prompted by rumors that thousands of Armenian refugees were arriving in the Tadzhik capital from Baku and were being allocated flats meant for local residents,” Tass said.

Tass said about 4,000 Tadzhiks gathered Monday night and “demanded that Armenians be resettled out of the republic.”

It said Communist Party leader Kakhar Makhkamov sought to assure them that only 40 Armenian refugees were in Dushanbe and were housed with relatives.

“However, the crowd went on a rampage,” Tass said. “Some protesters tried to get into the Central Committee building and when they failed, they threw stones at windows on the grounds and shouted threats.”

It said they stormed past Interior Ministry troops, broke windows at several food stores and other shops and set buses on fire.