Violence escalates as riots continue
Police officers have reportedly been found beheaded in Kazakhstan and dozens of protesters killed amid violent riots that threaten to topple the government of the former Soviet rePublic.
The protests have rapidly escalated since Sunday, with armed protesters fighting running battles with security forces.
A sudden spike in the price of car fuel at the start of the year triggered the first protests in a remote oil town in the west. But the tens of thousands who have since surged on to the streets across more than a dozen cities and towns now have the entire authoritarian Government in their sights.
Russia has sent troops to help quell the unrest, as the United States has warned that the world is watching Moscow’s actions.
An internet blackout means it is difficult for monitoring groups to confirm what is happening inside the country.
But video from the Russian news agency Tass showed police firing intensely on a street near Republic Square, where demonstrators had gathered, though they could not be seen in the footage.
Yesterday Tass said protesters had been swept from the square but that sporadic gunfire in the area continued.
In the unrest on Thursday, “dozens of attackers were liquidated”, police spokeswoman Saltanat Azirbek told state news channel Khabar-24. Twelve police officers were killed and 353 injured, the channel reported, citing city officials. The Interior Ministry said 2000 people were arrested.
But according to Russian-language news website The Insider, the Kazakh Ministry of Internal Affairs has said 18 security officials have been killed, 748 people have been wounded and 2298 people have been detained.
The Insider said the decapitated body of a police officer had been discovered. The Associated Press also reported a police officer had been beheaded, while Agence France-Presse put the number at two.
The demonstrations began over a near-doubling of prices for a type of vehicle fuel, but seemed to reflect wider discontent in the country, which has been under the rule of the same party since independence.
In a concession, the Government on Thursday announced a 180-day price cap on vehicle fuel and a moratorium on utility rate increases. It was unclear what effect the moves would have.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has vacillated between trying to mollify the protesters, including accepting the resignation of his Government, and promising harsh measures to quell the unrest, which he blamed on “terrorist bands”.
Worries that a broader crackdown could be on the horizon grew after Tokayev called on a Russia-led military alliance for help.
Russia and Kazakhstan share close relations and a 7600km border with Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome space centre based in Kazakhstan.
Of the five Central Asian republics that gained independence following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan is by far the largest and the wealthiest. It sits atop colossal reserves of oil, natural gas, uranium and precious metals.
White House press secretary Jen Pasaki said: “The world will, of course, be watching for any violation of human rights and actions that may lay the predicate for the seizure of Kazakh institutions.”
United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric called on security forces from within and without to “show restraint and protect people’s rights”.
Tokayev has imposed a nationwide state of emergency and banned religious services.
That is a blow to Kazakhstan’s sizeable Orthodox Christian population, which observes Christmas today.