- After serious unrest, the President of the authoritarian Republic of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, issued an order to shoot militant demonstrators.
- “I gave the order to the security forces and the army to open fire without warning,” Tokayev said on Friday.
There are calls from abroad for a peaceful solution to the crisis. Tokayev’s answer: “What a stupid thing! What kind of negotiations can there be with criminals and murderers? ” The head of state declared that a total of 20,000 “bandits” had attacked the metropolis of Almaty in the south-east of the Central Asian country, where the unrest had been particularly violent in the past few days.
He also referred to demonstrators as “terrorists” and as controlled from abroad. It is currently difficult to independently verify information. The Internet is repeatedly turned off in Kazakhstan and the border has been closed to foreigners.
Fuel prices as the origin
On Friday morning, state television reported that 26 demonstrators had already been killed. In addition, there have been more than 3,000 arrests. It was feared that there could now be many more civilian deaths. According to official figures, at least 18 security guards also died.
The unrest in the authoritarian ruled ex-Soviet republic was triggered by displeasure at the rise in fuel prices at petrol stations. But they quickly turned into sometimes violent protests against the government. In response to the protests, the current President Tokayev sacked the entire government and imposed a nationwide state of emergency.