Uprising in Kazakhstan - serious riots, dozens of dead, Russia sends paratroopers

Serious riots, dozens of dead, Russia sends paratroopers

The country in Central Asia is shaken by mass protests. Moscow seems to be worried.

Updated 2 hours ago

The unrest in Kazakhstan is escalating and the police are no longer in control of the situation.

Video: AP

According to the government, dozens of demonstrators were killed and more than 1,000 people injured during the massive protests in Kazakhstan. Almost 400 injured people are being treated in the hospital in different regions of the country, 62 people are in intensive care, said the deputy health minister Aschar Guinijat on Thursday the TV broadcaster Chabar-24. A Russian-led military alliance sent the first “peacekeeping troops” to the country at the request of the Kazakh president.

Kazakhstan is currently shaken by unprecedented unrest. Protests, which were initially directed against rising gas prices, expanded into mass protests critical of the government across the country within a few days. To calm the situation, the Kazakh authorities announced a regional cut in energy prices. Head of state Kassym-Shomart Tokayev also dismissed the government on Wednesday, but the protests did not end.

Smoke rises from the town hall in Almaty: According to media reports, demonstrators are said to have stormed the building. (January 5, 2022)

Photo: Yan Blagov (AP / Keystone)

“Dozens” of demonstrators were killed on Thursday night, according to police. “Extremist forces” tried to storm administration buildings as well as the headquarters and several police stations in Almaty, a police spokesman told the news agencies Interfax-Kazakhstan, Tass and Ria Novosti.

Tokayev declared a nationwide state of emergency because of the mass protests. Throughout the country, there are nocturnal curfews, restrictions on freedom of movement and a ban on gatherings. The head of state also asked for support from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which includes Russia, Kazakhstan and four other former Soviet republics.

Wave of indignation: Thousands are protesting in Almaty against an increase in gas prices. (January 5, 2022)

Photo: Abduaziz Madyarov (AFP)

The CSTO has now sent the first “peacekeeping troops” to Kazakhstan. The soldiers would be sent to Kazakhstan for a limited time “to stabilize and normalize the situation,” said a CSTO message published on Telegram by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday.

How many soldiers were sent to Kazakhstan was unclear. Accordingly, there were also paratroopers among them. The main tasks of the troops are “to protect important state and military institutions and to support the law enforcement officers in stabilizing the situation.”

Announces that he will take crackdowns: Kazakh President Kassym-Shomart Tokayev will address the public in a television speech on January 5, 2022.

Foto: Kazakhstan’s Presidential Press Service (AP/Keystone)

On Wednesday, thousands of people stormed the city administration and other government buildings in the economic metropolis of Almaty. Several administrative buildings were reportedly on fire. Accordingly, protesters also took control of the airport in the metropolis.

According to Tokayev, the Kazakh Air Force found itself in a “persistent battle” on Thursday with “terrorists” who had hijacked five planes. According to media reports, twelve members of the security forces were killed in the course of the unrest. More than 350 other emergency services were injured. One of the corpses was found with the head severed, reported the broadcaster Chabar-24, according to Russian news agencies.

Protesters and police clash in central Almaty. (January 5, 2022)

Foto: Vladimir Tretyakov (AP / Keystone)

According to the authorities, more than 200 people were arrested in connection with the protests on Wednesday night alone. Looted shops and buildings burned down and machine gun shots heard on videos posted on the Internet.

Tokayev accused “terrorist groups” of being behind the protests. The groups would be trained “abroad,” he said on state television. The current chairman of the CSTO, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, also stated that the unrest in Kazakhstan was triggered by “outside interference”. The USA, the EU and the federal government called on all parties to be “restrained”.

Major protests in authoritarian Kazakhstan are rare. What is happening now is the biggest crisis to date in Tokayev’s term in office, who succeeded long-time head of state Nursultan Nazarbayev in 2019. The now 81-year-old Nazarbayev headed Kazakhstan from 1989 to 2019 and still controls the politics of the Central Asian country as the “leader of the nation”. Nazarbayev is a close ally of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.