About 8,000 people were detained by police during protests that erupted in violence last week and the former Soviet nation suffered the worst unrest since it gained independence 30 years ago, Kazakhstan authorities said on Monday.
Kazakhstan’s Interior Ministry said a total of 7,939 people were detained across the country. The National Security Committee, Kazakhstan’s intelligence and counter-terrorism agency, said on Monday that the situation in the country “has stabilized and is under control.”
Authorities have declared Monday a day of mourning for dozens of victims of unprecedented violent unrest. The country’s health ministry said on Sunday that 164 people, including three children, had died in the unrest.
The demonstrations began on January 2 at the nearly doubling of prices for one type of vehicle fuel and quickly spread across the country, apparently reflecting widespread discontent with the authoritarian government.
In a concession, the government announced a 180-day price limit on vehicle fuels and a moratorium on utility rate hikes. As the unrest escalated, the Council of Ministers resigned and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev replaced Nursultan Nazarbayev, the former longtime leader of Kazakhstan, as head of the National Security Council.
One of the main slogans of last week’s protests, “Old Man Out”, was a reference to Nazarbayev, who served as Kazakhstan’s independence president until he resigned in 2019 and appointed Tokayev as his successor. Nazarbayev retained substantial power at the top of the National Security Council.
Despite concessions, the protests turned violent for several days, with government buildings set on fire and dozens killed. In Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, protesters stormed the airport and briefly occupied the airport. There were reports of sporadic firing on the streets of the city for several days.
The authorities declared a state of emergency over the unrest, and Tokayev requested help from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russia-led military alliance of six former Soviet states. The group has authorized the sending of about 2,500 mostly Russian troops to Kazakhstan as peacekeepers.
Tokayev has said that the demonstrations were instigated by “terrorists” with foreign backing, although the protests have shown no clear leaders or organisations. On Friday, he said he ordered the police and military to shoot to kill “terrorists” involved in the violence.
In a statement on Monday morning, Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry said peaceful protests across the country had been “hijacked by terrorist, extremist and criminal groups.”
“According to preliminary data, the attackers include people who have military combat field experience in the ranks of radical Islamist groups. Currently, Kazakhstan’s law enforcement agencies and armed forces are confronting terrorists, not peaceful protesters, as some foreign media misrepresent.”
The National Security Committee said on Monday that “hotspots of terrorist threats” in the country have been “neutralised”.
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