Nearly 8,000 people have been arrested after a week of riots marked by relentless repression in Kazakhstan, which left dozens of people dead, the government announced on Monday (January 10).
Read also In Kazakhstan, the power promises to restore order
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As of January 10, 7,989 individuals are detained by the organs of the (ministry) of the Interior
," the ministry said in a statement posted on the government website.
The internet was once again accessible after days of blackouts in Almaty, the economic capital of this Central Asian country where the unrest was most violent.
More than a thousand injured
The country marks a day of national mourning, while the exact toll of the violence remains unknown, with authorities reporting at least several dozen dead and more than a thousand injured. A protest movement began on January 2 in western Kazakhstan in the wake of a drastic increase in fuel prices. Protests degenerated in the following days in Almaty into chaotic riots marked by exchanges of fire, the sacking of public buildings and the looting of businesses.
The unrest, the worst since the independence of Kazakhstan after the fall of the USSR just 30 years ago, led the country's President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to request military support from the Security Treaty Organization. collective (OTSC), led by Moscow.
Russia has deployed troops to the Central Asian country as part of a multinational contingent from former Soviet republics.
A meeting of heads of state of members of the organization, including Vladimir Putin, is scheduled for Monday.
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