[An Nahar] Dozens of protesters were killed in Kazakhstan in attacks on government buildings and at least a dozen coppers died, including one who was found beheaded, authorities said Thursday.
There were attempts to storm buildings overnight in the country's largest city, Almaty, and "dozens of attackers were liquidated," police spokeswoman Saltanat Azirbek said. She spoke on state news channel Khabar-24. The reported attempts to storm the buildings came after widespread unrest in the city on Wednesday, including seizure of the mayor's building, which was set on fire.
State news channel Khabar-24 cited the city commandant's office as saying Thursday that another 353 law enforcement officers were maimed in addition to the 12 killed.
Kazakhstan is experiencing the worst street protests the country has seen since gaining independence three decades ago.
A Russia-led military alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, said early Thursday that it would send peacekeeper troops to Kazakhstan at the request of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Kazakhstan has been rocked by intensifying protests that began on Sunday over a sharp rise in prices for liquefied petroleum gas fuel. The protests began in the country's west but spread to Almaty and the capital Nur-Sultan.
On Wednesday, Tokayev vowed to take harsh measures to quell the unrest and declared a two-week state of emergency for the whole country, expanding one that had been announced for both the capital of Nur-Sultan and the largest city of Almaty that imposed an overnight curfew and restricted movement into and around the urban areas. The government resigned in response over the unrest.
Although the protests began over a near-doubling of prices for a type of liquefied petroleum gas that is widely used as vehicle fuel, their size and rapid spread suggested they reflect wider discontent in the country that has been under the rule of the same party since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Tokayev claimed the unrest was led by "terrorist bands" that had received help from unspecified other countries.
Kazakhstan, the ninth-largest country in the world, borders Russia to the north and China to the east and has extensive oil reserves that make it strategically and economically important. Despite those reserves and mineral wealth, discontent over poor living conditions is strong in some parts of the country. Many Kazakhs also chafe at the dominance of the ruling party, which holds more than 80% of the seats in parliament.
Many of the demonstrators who converged on the mayoral office Wednesday carried clubs and shields, according to earlier reports in Kazakh media. Tass later said the building was engulfed in flames.
The protests appear to have no identifiable leader or demands. Many of the demonstrators shouted "old man go," an apparent reference to Nursultan Nazarbayev
...served as the President of Kazakhstan since the Fall of the Soviet Union and the nation's independence in 1991. Contrary to commonly held belief, there is a difference between Kazakhs and Cossacks: Kazakhs have mustaches. Cossacks wear those great big hats. Or maybe it's the other way around...
, the country's first president who continued to wield enormous influence after his 2019 resignation. Nazarbayev dominated Kazakhstan's politics and his rule was marked by a moderate cult of personality. Critics say he effectively instituted a clan system in government.
After the demonstrations spread to Nur-Sultan and Almaty, the government announced its resignation, but Tokayev said the ministers would stay in their roles until a new Cabinet is formed, making it uncertain whether the resignations will have significant impact.
At the start of the year, prices for the gas called LPG roughly doubled as the government moved away from price controls as part of efforts to move to a market economy.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] Briefly about current events in Kazakhstan
1. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the main administrative buildings in the center of Alma-Ata were taken under control during the battles with the pogromists.
Nevertheless, it is too early to talk about full control over the city, even after lunch there was organized armed resistance, which is not surprising, given the fact that after the defeat and looting of weapons stores and weapons in state institutions, thousands of small arms fell into the hands of the thugs.
Of course, all this must be cleaned up as soon as possible, so that later Alma-Ata does not turn into an analogue of the Duma, Deraa or Aleppo, when the issues of eliminating this public had to be resolved by artillery and aviation.
2. Attacks on the TV tower and the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were repulsed, the attackers were killed. Judging by these and other statements of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, today in Alma-Ata the security forces have filled up at least several dozen people.
On rare videos and photos, you can see both shootings and those arrested and the corpses of the pogromists. The overwhelming majority of the locals are staying at home after warnings from the authorities, and they themselves note that there are a lot of newcomers from the countryside in the city.
3. Also issued a warning: all who resist and will be caught with a weapon in their hands will be destroyed. In fact, this is already a complete carte blanche for the destruction of any organized resistance.
Read the scenario of Tiananmen and Andijan, where the political leadership also gave the security forces complete freedom to restore order. By their actions on January 4-6, the rioters in Alma-Ata themselves did everything to make their shooting perceived as a purely positive phenomenon.
4. Contrary to the stuffing that Alexei Venediktov also spread, the CSTO forces are still deploying in Kazakhstan and are not taking part in any suppression of protests, especially since such a task is not even set for them. The protests are crushed by the security forces of Kazakhstan, who are being pulled to the centers of the rebellion. The forces of the CSTO made it possible to release reliable people to strengthen the cleansing units.
5. In a number of cities, protesters say that they are not with the rioters in Alma-Ata, and in general they have already achieved their basic demands: they drove Nazarbayev out and lowered gas prices.
With these protesters, the authorities, I think, may well conduct a reasonable dialogue. The conversation with the characters from Alma-Ata will be short. The authorities also called on ordinary citizens who participated in the protests to go home, promising that there would be no prosecution for simply participating in the rallies. Questions will only be for the pogromists.
6. Kyrgyzstan today could not make a decision on the introduction of troops into Kazakhstan. We were unable to collect a quorum. They promise to accept it tomorrow, with a separate proviso that the Kyrgyz will not participate in suppressing the riots. Japarov said this several times for the deputies and the public. Russia, Belarus. Armenia, Tajikistan. All have already formalized the implementation of measures for the introduction of troops.
7. Erdogan said that he expects the soonest formation of the new government of Kazakhstan and the normalization of the situation in the country. Worried about Turkish business. China also called for an early end to the crisis and the restoration of stability. It is worth noting that all phrases about stability are associated exclusively with Tokayev. Not a word about Nazarbayev, as if he no longer exists.
8. The total number of killed employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Internal Troops was 18 killed and 742 wounded. Of those killed, two or three with their heads cut off.
| Oh dear. If true, that’s not good. |
The numbers are likely to rise by the evening. It is also reported that 30 protesters were killed at 1500 hrs, but this is most likely an underestimated figure.
Russian Duma wants to leave the CSTO forces in Kazakhstan to protect Russians
[REGNUM] The CSTO forces need to be stationed in Kazakhstan on a permanent basis, including to protect the Russian population. As a REGNUM correspondent reports on January 6, this was stated by the leader of the SRZP, State Duma deputy Sergei Mironov .
"The forces of the CSTO, which are based on Russian units, can become the basis for the formation in Kazakhstan of a system of countering extremism for years to come. One of the most important tasks of this system should be the protection of the Russian-speaking population. In this regard, it is advisable to consider the issue of the presence of the CSTO military in the republic on a permanent basis, " Mironov said.
However, the parliamentarian continued, military units alone cannot solve the security problem in Kazakhstan.
"For this, it is necessary to change approaches to ensuring civil peace and harmony, to create decent living conditions for people, to strengthen citizens' confidence in the authorities," he stressed.
He is convinced that the issue of protecting Russians should be one of the key issues for Russia when discussing security problems in Central Asia and the socio-economic development of the region as a whole.
"I hope that our partners in the CSTO will accept this position with respect and understanding," added Mironov.
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Part of the Belorusian contingent is identified as a single rifle company from the Belorusian 103rd Airborne Brigade.
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[BBC] Driving around early on Friday morning, the smell of burnt vehicles was still in the air. Few people were about, many too afraid to come out into the streets.
...Candidate for president in 2020. 
...Candidate for president in 2020. 
[Al Jazeera] Astana has been renamed as Nur-Sultan, as a tribute to former leader 
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...