Official: Protests’ death toll hits 225

A top law enforcement official in Kazakhstan said Saturday that 225 people died during the violent demonstrations that shook the country this month, a significantly higher number than previously announced.

Serik Shalabayev, head of the criminal prosecution service in the general prosecutor’s office, said 19 police officers or servicemen were among the dead, news reports said. More than 4,300 people were injured, he said.

The previous official death toll was 164.

Demonstrations started Jan. 2 in the oil- and gas-rich Central Asian nation to protest a sharp rise in fuel prices.

They quickly spread nationwide, widening into a general protest against the country’s authoritarian government.