Kazakhstan’s police detained 3,811 individuals during several days of riots across the country, according to Interior Ministry numbers reported by Kazakh media.
Since the start of the turmoil, which grew particularly violent on Wednesday, 26 people have been killed and an equivalent number have been injured, as per government figures acquired by Tengrinews.kz, reported Sputnik. Another 56 people were brought to hospitals, with 25 of them in intensive care, reported Sputnik. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Friday expressing his condolences to the families of those killed during the protests.
Violent protests in the Kyzylorda region on the border with Uzbekistan left 182 people injured, according to the Khabar 24 news station, reported the global news agency.
“Not only administrative buildings but also the personal property of civilians, not to mention the health and lives of hundreds of civilians and servicemen, suffered from the actions of the bandits. I express my sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims,” Tokayev said in his address.
Tokayev also noted that hundreds of Kazakh servicemen and citizens were either killed or injured as the result of recent protests in the city of Almaty.
Mass protests in Kazakhstan began earlier in the week as residents of Zhanaozen and Aktau opposed a two-fold increase in prices for liquefied petroleum gas. The protests then spread to other cities, resulting in violent clashes with the police, looting and vandalism. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declared a state of emergency until January 19 and invited the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) peacekeeping forces to help bring the situation under control.
Peacekeeping contingents from Russia and Belarus have arrived in Kazakhstan to protect strategic infrastructure facilities, including the Baikonur cosmodrome. According to CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas, the peacekeeping force is comprised of 2,500 troops on the ground and this number may increase if necessary.
Also during a shootout, a driver of a camera crew of the Almaty broadcaster was killed near the presidential residence in the Kazakh city of Almaty, media reported on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has seen reports that police officers and protesters have been killed in Kazakhstan, but it is hard for the organisation to confirm this information, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday.
The spokesman also said all UN personnel, including about 285 international and national staff and 25 employees working from Kazakhstan for the UN Mission in neighboring Afghanistan, are safe and accounted for.
The UK government on Thursday voiced concern over violent clashes that had erupted in Kazakhstan and called for peaceful protests and a “proportionate” response from authorities. “We are concerned by the violent clashes in Kazakhstan in recent days and are following developments closely. We call for calm and we condemn acts of violence and the destruction of property and buildings,” a spokesperson for the Foreign Office said in a statement.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone and discussed the situation in Kazakhstan. “Pashinyan and Putin discussed the situation in Kazakhstan, as well as the progress in implementing joint steps within the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organisation],” Sputnik quoted, according to the Armenian Cabinet of Minister’s statement on Friday. Pashinyan, as the current rotating chair of the CSTO, officially gave the order to begin the peacekeeping mission in protest-hit Kazakhstan. In the same light, Armenia’s permanent representative to the United Nations informed the organisation of the CSTO mission in the Central Asian country.
Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines, Turkey’s flagship carrier, has decided to suspend passengers flights to Kazakhstan over the unrest in the Central Asian nation until January 9, media reported.