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Pictures like this one from the city of Almaty from January 6th show Kazakh soldiers with blue helmets
Photo: Vladimir Tretyakov / dpa
The United Nations has expressed concern about photos of Kazakh soldiers wearing UN helmets during the serious riot.
"We have conveyed our concerns to the Permanent Representation of Kazakhstan," said a UN spokeswoman when asked by the dpa news agency.
Security forces from UN member states are only allowed to wear the so-called blue helmets as part of a UN peacekeeping mission, it said.
That is not the case in Kazakhstan.
The photos appeared at the end of last week from the Kazakh metropolis of Almaty.
How exactly the soldiers got the helmets and why they wore them was initially unclear.
Kazakhstan is a UN member.
Kazakh soldiers were involved in a UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon until last year.
Kazakhstan, which shares borders with Russia and China, has been experiencing the worst unrest in years 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, particularly in Almaty.
President Tokayev speaks of an "attempted coup"
Speaking at a video conference of the Russian-led military alliance CSTO, President Kassym-Shomart Tokayev said on Monday that he considered the riots over.
In view of the unrest, Tokayev spoke of an "attempted coup" which had originated from a "center".
Exactly who Tokayev was referring to remained unclear.
Tokayev had used soldiers against demonstrators and gave the emergency services an order to shoot.
The exact number of civilian fatalities is still unclear, but Tokayev said 16 security forces were killed on Monday.
The Ministry of Health reported a total of 164 deaths on Sunday, including three children.
On Monday, the authorities also announced that almost 8,000 people had been arrested in the wake of the unrest.
fek / dpa
