- Several people have been killed during protests in Uzbekistan in the province of Karakalpakstan.
- This was confirmed by the country’s President, Shawkat Mirziyoyev.
- The demonstrations in the west of the country are directed against a planned constitutional reform.
Mirsijiojew did not give an exact number of victims. The Russian-language Telegram channel Good Central Asia reported hundreds of dead and injured. However, there was initially no confirmation of this.
Constitutional amendment as a trigger
A month-long state of emergency has been in force in the western region of Karakalpakstan since Saturday. There has been unrest there since Friday because the new Uzbek constitution no longer explicitly mentions the sovereignty of the autonomous republic.
Only about two million of the country’s 35 million inhabitants live in the region in western Uzbekistan on the Aral Sea. With 164,000 square kilometers (twice the size of Austria), the republic takes up almost 40 percent of the country’s area. The republic has its own parliament. Karakalpak is recognized as an official language alongside Uzbek. Otherwise, the autonomy rights are limited.
Rioters carried out “destructive actions” in the city of Nukus, throwing stones, setting fires and attacking the police, according to a statement by Mirsijioyev published on Sunday.
Only on Saturday did the Uzbek President drop plans to take back the province’s autonomy after protests, which he said began on Friday.
Legend:
The army has deployed in response to the protests in western Uzbekistan.
Reuters
Uzbekistan is a tightly controlled Central Asian state and a former Soviet republic where the government cracks down on any form of criticism. Human rights organizations denounce police violence.
“There have been unconfirmed reports of excessive use of force by security forces during the July 1 protests in Nukus,” Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia director Hugh Williamson wrote on Twitter. He called for an investigation into what was happening.