The country with 19 million inhabitants is going through the biggest demonstrations since its independence in 1989
Kazakh police gather during protests in Kazakhstanprotest in Kazakhstan 164 dead and about 2,000 wounded. In addition, authorities announced this Sunday, 9 that they had arrested nearly 6,000 people linked to these bloody uprisings that rocked Central Asia’s largest country all week. The number could not be confirmed by an independent source, but according to several newspapers citing the health ministry, the economic capital Almaty would have recorded 103 deaths. referred to by them as “armed criminals”) and 16 members of the Security Forces.
The statement disappeared from the official channel on Sunday afternoon Wire, and the Ministry of Health indicated to the Kazakh and Russian media that the information was published in error. However, he did not deny the information and no new figures were provided. In total, about 5,800 people were detained, “many of them foreigners”, in 125 separate investigations, the Kazakh president said in a statement, without providing further details. After a crisis meeting called by President Kassym Jomart Tokayev, the source said “the situation across the country has stabilized,” despite security forces continuing to “clean up” operations.
Kazakhstan, a country of 19 million people rich in hydrocarbons, was rocked by unprecedented demonstrations, the largest since independence in 1989, in which dozens were killed. Last Sunday, protests began in 2, provinces over the increase in gas prices. It then spread to major cities, including Almaty, where police opened fire on protesters. According to the Kazakh Interior Ministry quoted by the local press on Sunday, the material damage was estimated at around 175 million euros (R$1.1 billion).
More than 100 companies and banks were looted and about 400 vehicles were destroyed. Almaty has returned to relatively calmness in recent days, but police officers fired warning shots into the air to stop its residents near the city’s central square, the report noted on Saturday, 8. A timid return to normalcy Signs, 30 supermarkets reopened on Sunday, expressed concern about a potential shortage, according to newspapers. The local airport, which was to reopen this Monday, June 10, will remain closed “until the situation stabilizes”.
*With information from AFP
