Kazakhstan: Police killed dozens of people who attacked official buildings last night – TVNOVINY.sk

Police in the Kazakh city of Alma-Ata killed “dozens” of protesters on Thursday night, who attacked several official buildings, including the building of the local police department. The spokesman for the Almaty police, Saltanat Azirbek, was quoted for the Kazakh media by the TASS and AFP agencies.

“At night, the extremists tried to break into the official buildings, the Alma-Ata police department, as well as the buildings of the district police departments. Dozens of attackers have been eliminated and are being identified,” Azirbeková told Chabar-24 on Kazakh television.

Alma-Ate military headquarters announced on Thursday night that security forces in the city had launched a counterterrorism operation. Kazakh President Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev said on Wednesday that “terrorists” were at the forefront of the riots.

Azirbek warned on Thursday that the counter-terrorism operation is still taking place in the part of Alma-Ata where the official buildings are located, and called on the inhabitants and visitors of the city to avoid danger and stay at home.

Due to the ongoing unrest in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, they declared a state of emergency that applies throughout the country. During its duration, the curfew is valid from 23:00 in the evening until 07:00 in the morning and any public events are prohibited.

Tokaev also asked the Collective Security Treaty Organization (ODKB) for help in connection with the protests in the country, which decided to send its peacekeeping force to Kazakhstan.

TASS recalled that protests against high fuel prices broke out in the Mangystau region of Kazakhstan on 2 January. Two days later, the riots spread to Almaty and other cities. Authorities on Wednesday reported several deaths and hundreds injured by security forces and hundreds more injured by civilians.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is following with great concern the current developments in Kazakhstan.

“The ongoing situation in Kazakhstan needs to be de-escalated as soon as possible and the clashes that have resulted in casualties must be ended. Tensions in society cannot be ruled out, but the state must look for ways to deal with them in a democratic way. This is not violence, but a dialogue with respect for the law and human rights, “said the head of our diplomacy Ivan Korčok about the current situation in this country.

The information available to the Ministry of Diplomacy does not indicate that citizens of the Slovak Republic should be among the injured. “Several Slovak priests and nuns have been working in this Central Asian country for a long time,” the press department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the media.

The world is following Russia’s actions in Kazakhstan

The United States on Thursday warned Russian troops stationed in Kazakhstan against taking control of the institutions of the former Soviet republic. The AFP agency informed about it.

“The United States and the world will monitor possible human rights violations,” US Department of State spokesman Ned Price told reporters. “We will also monitor possible steps that could create the preconditions for the seizure of Kazakh institutions,” AFP was quoted as saying.

Price added that it was up to the Kazakh government to explain the reasons why it had invited the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (ODKB) to the country.

The current ODKB chairman, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pasinjan, said the alliance was responding to the request because of “external interference”, AFP writes.

Price also reiterated its call on Kazakhstan to address the causes of the unrest in the country, which has provoked rare mass protests against fuel prices. “We hope that the government of Kazakhstan will soon be able to solve problems that are fundamentally economic and political in nature,” added a spokesman who described the United States as a “partner” of the Central Asian country.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously called his Kazakh counterpart Muchtar Tleuberdi and urged a peaceful solution to the situation in the country, as well as respect for media freedom.

Blinken “reiterated the full support of the United States for constitutional institutions and media freedom in Kazakhstan and called for a peaceful solution to the crisis that respects rights,” Price said.