The Kazakh President had issued an order to shoot demonstrators. 16 security forces were killed; it is not known how many protesters died.
After the serious unrest in Central Asian Kazakhstan, more than 5,000 people have been arrested across the country. “So far, 5,135 people have been arrested in all of Kazakhstan,” said the interior ministry of the authoritarian-led ex-Soviet republic in the capital Nur-Sultan on Sunday morning. The government said there were 5,800 arrests, including a significant number of foreign nationals. President Kassym-Shomart Tokayev blames trained terrorists for the unrest.
16 members of the security forces were killed, it said. In addition, around 1,300 police officers, soldiers and other members of the security authorities were injured in the clashes. The authorities had previously spoken of more than 40 people killed – including security forces.
The president ordered the police and army on Friday to shoot “without warning” at demonstrators he described as “terrorists” and “bandits”. It was feared that there could be many civilian deaths – especially in Almaty, a city of over a million people in southeastern Kazakhstan, which was badly shaken by the riots.
Interior Minister Erlan Turgumbayev told the TV broadcaster that the arrested are now being charged with, among other things, the destruction of more than 100 shopping centers or bank buildings Chabar 24. Around 400 vehicles were destroyed during the riots, most of them police cars.
Kazakhstan, which borders Russia and China, has been experiencing the worst riots in years for days. In many places, displeasure at the rise in fuel prices at petrol stations turned into peaceful, but sometimes also violent, protests against the government. Tokayev declared a state of emergency and asked a Russian-led military alliance for help.
The leadership in Moscow is very sensitive to tensions and conflicts in former Soviet republics, which they continue to regard as their areas of influence. In addition to the oil-rich Kazakhstan, which is also the world’s largest uranium producer, this also applies to Ukraine, Belarus and the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.