loading…
The mayor’s office building in Almaty, Kazakhstan, is set on fire by demonstrators. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev sacked two top intelligence officials on charges of treason. Photo/REUTERS/Pavel Mikheyev
Protests across the country, sparked by rising gas prices, have been ongoing for the past week.
The government, as quoted by Russian media, said 164 people were killed, including demonstrators and police. More than 6,000 people have been arrested since the bloody protests broke out.
The two fired intelligence officials were representatives of former intelligence chief Karim Massimov who had been arrested earlier on conspiracy charges.
President Tokayev earlier issued a firing order without warning against so-called bandits and terrorists. According to him, the move was to end the riots.
Not a single group appeared to speak on behalf of the protesters. Demonstrations against rising gas prices began a week ago before erupting into wider protests against Tokayev’s government and the man he succeeded as president, 81-year-old Nursultan Nazarbayev.
At Tokayev’s request, the Russia-led alliance of ex-Soviet states – the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) – sent troops to restore order.
The intervention comes at a time of high tension in Russia-US relations ahead of talks on the Ukraine crisis starting today (10/1/2022).
Tokayev’s spokesman said on Sunday that he thought the Russian-led alliance forces would not be in Kazakhstan for long, and perhaps no more than a week or even less. – .
