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Police officers in the city of Almaty (archive image)
Photo: STR / EPA
There have been almost 8,000 arrests in the rioting with many dead in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The country's interior ministry spoke on Monday morning of 7,939 people who had come into custody.
In two markets in Almaty, a city in the south-east of the country that was particularly affected by the unrest, 207 people were arrested in two markets, it said.
On this Monday there was a nationwide state mourning in the ex-Soviet republic.
According to the state agency Kazinform, all flags were set at half-mast.
On Sunday there was confusion about the number of deaths, which state television had given as more than 160, citing the Ministry of Health.
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Kazakhstan, which borders Russia and China, has not been resting for more than a week.
Displeasure over the rise in fuel prices at petrol stations in the oil- and gas-rich country turned into protests against the government.
In addition to peaceful demonstrations, there were also violent riots, especially in the metropolis of Almaty.
Many grocery stores had been looted, an eyewitness reported to the dpa news agency.
"Bank branches, ATMs - everything is broken." Long queues formed in front of bakeries that had resumed operations.
According to the latest official figures, more than 2,000 people were injured across the country.
Apparently the internet can be used again
On Monday, people in the economic metropolis of Almaty were initially able to use the Internet again, as a resident of the dpa news agency in Moscow confirmed.
The internet was switched off again and again for days.
So it was difficult to get independent information about the situation in Kazakhstan.
US government "very concerned" about state of emergency
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on the Kazakh government to lift the order to shoot protesters.
"The order to shoot, as far as it exists, is wrong and should be revoked," said Blinken on Sunday on ABC television.
The US government is "very concerned" about the state of emergency in Kazakhstan.
In a conversation with his Kazakh colleague Muchtar Tileuberdi on Thursday, Blinken made it clear that the US government expected the Kazakh authorities to "respect" the rights of the demonstrators and reduce the violence.
President Kassym-Shomart Tokayev ordered his security forces "to fire fatal shots without warning" on Friday.
According to him, the demonstrators were "terrorists," many of whom were from abroad.
fek / dpa / AFP
