Lev Tolstoy street in Bishkek, nicknamed "the street of the unemployed" since poor day labourers from the provinces, such as Kurman (right), come here to work for around 5 Euros a day. Today he hasn't found any work and says he would be ready to work for 2 Euros. Sometimes police come and extort money from them. On the opposite side of the street is the former Lenin factory, which was once one of the biggest in Bishkek. It was closed after the USSR collapsed.