Kazakh police say dozens of protesters were “eliminated” overnight in the Central Asian country’s biggest city, Almaty, when they tried to storm administrative buildings as nationwide unrest escalated.
Police spokesman Saltanat Azirbek said in a January 6 statement quoted by Russian news agencies that the deaths occurred when “extremist forces tried to assault administrative buildings, the Almaty city police department, as well as local police commissariats.”
The statement was issued as troops began moving onto the main square of Almaty. The troops arrived on foot and in several armored personnel carriers, with Reuters quoting witnesses as saying that gunfire had been heard.
The wave of protests erupted in the western region of Mangystau four days ago over a sudden hike in prices for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a popular fuel used in vehicles in the oil-rich country, but have spread to cities and towns across Kazakhstan and broadened to include political grievances.
It is unclear whether the troops deployed in Almaty are part of a peacekeeping force from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said would be sent to quell an unprecedented wave of unrest in the oil-rich Central Asian nation that was sparked by a fuel price hike.
Pashinian, the current chairman of the CSTO, said on Facebook on January 5 that the decision to deploy the force had been taken in response to an appeal from Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev.
Pashinian did not say how many peacekeepers would be sent or when they would arrive.
Toqaev earlier on January 5 sacked the government and declared a nationwide state of emergency after thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with police and stormed government buildings.
Angry demonstrators, some of whom were armed with rubber truncheons, sticks, and shields, set fire on January 5 to a presidential residence and the mayor’s office in Almaty, where protesters also seized control of the airport, prompting the temporary suspension of all flights.
The Interior Ministry claimed eight police and national guard troops were killed and 317 people were wounded during the unrest across the country, but offered no details.
Video recordings circulated on social media purportedly showed several bodies of protesters on the streets. RFE/RL could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.
Police engaged in pitched battles with the protesters, using tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets to try to disperse the crowds, but were largely unsuccessful.
Communications monitors reported a “national-scale” Internet blackout, while RFE/RL journalists in the country said both Internet and telephone services had deteriorated markedly.
State television reported on January 6 that the National Bank of Kazakhstan has suspended all financial institutions.
In a major move to distance himself from the past, Toqaev on January 5 removed his predecessor, 81-year-old Nursultan Nazarbaev, from the powerful post of head of the country’s Security Council.
Nazarbaev had retained wide authority through the post since stepping down in 2019 as president after three decades in power, the last Soviet-era Communist Party boss still ruling an ex-Soviet state.
Some protesters laid the blame for many of the country’s problems on him, with demonstrators in the city of Taldykorgan, the capital of the Almaty region, toppling a statue of the former leader on January 5.
Violence was also reported in the northern city of Aqtobe, where police fired tear gas on protesters who tried to enter the regional government building by force.
According to the head of the Health Department of the Aqtobe region, Rustem Isaev, 10 people were taken from the city’s square by ambulance. Among the injured are policemen, three of whom are in hospital, according to RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service.
One of the protesters was seriously wounded in the head and taken to the intensive care unit. Isaev described his condition as serious. In addition, several protesters said they had been hit by rubber bullets.
Protests rocked other cities and towns, including Aqtau, Zhanaozen, and Oral, where dozens of people were reportedly detained.
The United States is closely following the situation in Kazakhstan, State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement, referring to Kazakhstan as “a valued partner.”
Price said the United States condemned the violence and destruction of property, called for restraint by both the authorities and protestors, and urged all parties to find a peaceful resolution of the state of emergency.
