From News Nation:
“Kazakhstan says 164 killed,
5,800 detained in protests”
(A body of victim covered by a
banner, right, lays near to a military truck, which was burned after clashes,
in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022. Kazakhstan’s president authorized
security forces on Friday to shoot to kill those participating in unrest,
opening the door for a dramatic escalation in a crackdown on anti-government
protests that have turned violent.)
Kazakhstan’s health ministry said Sunday that 164 people have been killed in protests that have rocked the country over the past week. The figures reported on the state news channel Khabar-24 are a significant rise from previous tallies. It is not clear if the deaths refer only to civilians or if law-enforcement deaths are included. Kazakh authorities said earlier Sunday that 16 police or national guard had been killed. Authorities previously gave the civilian death toll as 26. Most of the deaths — 103 — were in Almaty, the country’s largest city, where demonstrators seized government buildings and set some afire, according to the ministry. the country’s ombudswoman for children’s rights said that three of those killed were minors, including a 4-year-old girl. The ministry earlier reported more than 2,200 people sought treatment for injuries from the protests, and the Interior Ministry said about 1,300 security officers were injured. The office of Kazakhstan’s president said that about 5,800 people were detained by police during the protests that developed into violence last week and prompted a Russia-led military alliance to send troops to the country. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s office said Sunday that order has stabilized in the country and that authorities have regained control of administrative buildings that were occupied by protesters, some of which were set on fire. The Russian TV station Mir-24 said sporadic gunfire was heard in Almaty on Sunday but it was unclear whether they were warning shots by law enforcement. Tokayev on Friday said he had authorized police and the military to shoot to kill to restore order.
(An armed riot police officer
detains a protester during a security anti-terrorists operation in a street
after clashes in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022. Kazakhstan’s
president authorized security forces on Friday to shoot to kill those
participating in unrest, opening the door for a dramatic escalation in a
crackdown on anti-government protests that have turned violent.)
Almaty’s airport, which had been
taken by protesters last week, remained closed but was expected to resume
operating on Monday. Protests over a sharp rise in prices of LPG fuel began in
the country’s west on Jan. 2 and spread throughout the country, apparently
reflecting discontent extending beyond the fuel prices. The same party has
ruled Kazakhstan since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Any figures
aspiring to oppose the government have either been repressed, sidelined, or
co-opted and financial hardship is widespread despite Kazakhstan’s enormous
reserves of oil, natural gas, uranium and minerals. Tokayev contends the
demonstrations were ignited by “terrorists” with foreign backing, although the
protests have shown no obvious leaders or organization. The statement from his
office on Sunday said the detentions included “a sizable number of foreign nationals,”
but gave no details. It was unclear how many of those detained remained in
custody on Sunday.
The former head of Kazakhstan’s
counterintelligence and anti-terror agency has been arrested on charges of
attempted government overthrow. The arrest of Karim Masimov, which was
announced Saturday, came just days after he was removed as head of the National
Security Committee by Tokayev. No details were given about what Masimov was
alleged to have done that would constitute an attempted government overthrow.
The National Security Committee, a successor to the Soviet-era KGB, is
responsible for counterintelligence, the border guards service and anti-terror
activities. Authorities say security forces killed 26 demonstrators in this
week’s unrest and that 16 law-enforcement officers died. At Tokayev’s request,
the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russia-led military alliance of
six former Soviet states, authorized sending about 2,500 mostly Russian troops
to Kazakhstan as peacekeepers. Some of the force is guarding government
facilities in the capital, Nur-Sultan, which “made it possible to release part
of the forces of Kazakhstani law enforcement agencies and redeploy them to
Almaty to participate in the counter-terrorist operation,” according to a
statement from Tokayev’s office.
^ It’s sad to see the Kazakh
Government and the Russian Military using violence against people who just want
to live in a free country after 70+ years of Soviet Dictatorship and 30 years
of Kazakh Dictatorship. ^
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