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Kazakhstan’s Interior Ministry says eight policemen have been killed in fuel price spikes.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said he had asked the Russian-led security bloc for help after failing to calm down. days of protest Former Soviets say state buildings have been set on fire and eight security personnel are dead.
It has been a Central Asian country shaken by protests since the beginning of the year, on Wednesday, he clashed with police and intensified protesters attacking government buildings against rising New Year’s fuel prices.
“Today, I call on the heads of state’s CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) to help Kazakhstan overcome this terrorist threat,” Tokayev said on state television on Thursday morning.
“In fact, this is no longer a threat,” he added. “The integrity of the state is weakening.”
Moscow leads the CSTO security alliance, which includes five other former Soviet states.
Tokayev, who had previously declared a nationwide state of emergency, said the terrorist group – which he said had “received extensive training abroad” – was “now often” operating across the country.
“Buildings and infrastructure are being hijacked, and mostly small arms premises are being hijacked,” he said, adding that five planes were seized at the country’s largest city, Almaty Airport.
“Today, there is a fight near Almaty with the air force of the Ministry of Defense, a stubborn fight,” Tokayev said.
The deputy mayor later said the airport had been cleared of protesters and was working normally.
The Kazakh Interior Ministry said eight police and members of the National Guard had been killed in the clashes and more than 300 had been injured. No civilian casualties were reported.
On Wednesday, protesters in Almaty seized the presidential residence and the mayor’s office and set fire to both of them, according to news reports.
Police seemed to shoot against some protesters at Almaty’s headquarters before he escaped. In recent days, they have repeatedly clashed with protesters, opening water cannons in freezing weather and throwing tear gas and grenades.
Tokayev is committed to taking over harsh measures he calmed the unrest and declared a two-week state of emergency for the whole country, extending what was announced to the capital Nur-Sultan and Almaty, which set a night limit and limited movement to and around urban areas.
The government resigned in response to unrest on Tuesday. News sites in Kazakhstan became inaccessible at the end of the day, and the global watchdog Netblocks said the country was suffering from widespread blackouts on the Internet, but Russia’s Tass news agency reported that Almatyn had regained internet access on Thursday morning.
Although the protests began with a doubling of the prices of liquefied petroleum gas, which is widely used as a vehicle fuel, its size and rapid expansion suggested a greater disagreement in a country under its control. In 1991, it gained independence from the Soviet Union.
Kazakhstan, the ninth largest country in the world, borders Russia and eastern China and has large oil reserves that are strategically and economically important.
Despite these reserves and these mineral riches, there is a great deal of discrepancy in poor living conditions in some parts of the country. Many Kazakhs are also disgusted with the dominance of the ruling party, which holds more than 80 percent of parliamentary seats.
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