by Mark Trevelyan
LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) – Uzbek President Chavkat Mirzioev said on Sunday that anti-government rallies in the northwestern republic of Karakalpakstan had claimed “casualties”, as the opposition in exile said five dead.
In a statement posted on the internet, Chavkat Mirzioev claims that rioters carried out “destructive actions” in Noukous, the capital of Karakalpakstan, by throwing stones, attacking the police and setting fires.
“Unfortunately, there are casualties among civilians and security forces,” he said, without further details.
An exiled opponent, Poulat Ahounov, told Reuters, based on local sources and video documents, that at least five people had been killed, and that dozens were rumored to have been killed.
He adds that a state of emergency has been declared in the autonomous republic of some two million inhabitants.
President Chavkat Mirzioev announced Saturday to abandon a draft constitutional amendment that would have eroded Karakalpakstan’s autonomous status, a reason for popular anger. (Reuters report, with contribution by Olzhas Auyezov, writing by Mark Trevelyan, French version Sophie Louet)