Au Kazakhstan, une répression féroce s’abat sur les émeutiers

Des militaires sont postés derrière un véhicule incendié sur la place principale de la ville d’Amalty où des centaines de personnes ont manifesté contre le gouvernement, jeudi, au Kazakhstan. MARIYA GORDEYEVA/REUTERS
LE FIGARO : RÉCIT - «L’opération antiterroriste» déclenchée jeudi par les forces armées contre les manifestants a été meurtrière.

Mercredi soir, au terme d’une journée chaotique où des édifices publics ont été pris d’assaut par les manifestants un peu partout dans le pays, les autorités kazakhes avaient préparé l’opinion à la féroce répression conduite jeudi. La police d’Almaty, la capitale économique de l’ex-République soviétique, avait averti qu’elle allait lancer une «opération antiterroriste».

L’expression était aussi impropre qu’attendue, alors que le mouvement, qui donnait certes lieu à quelques pillages, avait commencé trois jours plus tôt dans l’ouest pétrolier du pays, pour protester contre l’augmentation aussi soudaine que drastique du prix d’un carburant très usité dans l’immense steppe kazakhe, le gaz de pétrole liquéfié. Deux mille arrestations » | Par Régis Genté | jeudi 6 janvier 2022

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How the Deadly Unrest turned Kazakhstan into a Geopolitical Flashpoint | DW News

Jan 7, 2022 • Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Friday declared that constitutional order was "mainly restored" after the unprecedented unrest in recent days. Protests had erupted over surging fuel prices and escalated into an uprising against corruption. Violent clashes between protesters and security forces left dozens of demonstrators and forces killed. In a televised address on Friday, Tokayev said he had given security forces orders to open fire without warning if there were further disturbances. The president made reference to "20,000 bandits" who had attacked the country's largest city of Almaty and vowed to destroy them.

Authorities said there have also been 3,000 arrests, according to state broadcaster Khabar 24 citing the interior ministry. Security has been bolstered across the country, with 70 checkpoints operating around the clock. On Thursday, authorities said 18 security personnel had been killed, including one who had been beheaded.

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4 January 2021: people in Aktau protest against liquefied natural gas hike | (c) ITAR-TASS News Agency / Alamy Stock Photo. All rights reserved
Protests in Kazakhstan started quietly this week. A sudden increase in the price of liquefied petroleum gas, popular as a secondary fuel for its low cost, sparked public meetings in towns in western Kazakhstan, the home of the country’s natural resources sector.

But five days later, and the system built since the 1990s by Kazakhstan’s first family, the Nazarbayevs, and their associates, looks to have been shaken.

The government has resigned, former leader Nursultan Nazarbayev has been stripped of his role as chairman of the country’s Security Council, and protesters have attempted to storm government administration buildings amid a state of emergency. After a request by president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Russian troops have now entered the country. Dozens of protesters have allegedly been killed by law enforcement in the city of Almaty, according to a local police spokesperson.

Four thousand miles away in London, though, the UK assets of the Kazakhstani ruling class are sitting quietly. The Central Asian state’s elite owns at least £530.4m of luxury property in London and the southeast, according to data released in a recent report by Chatham House. Some £330m of that luxury property is owned by the extended Nazarbayev family. » | Thomas Rowley | Thursday, January 6, 2022

Kazakhstan: Protesters Storm Government Offices | DW News

Jan 6, 2022 • Police in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, say dozens of protesters have been killed in attempts to storm public buildings. After a request for help from Kazakhstan's president, Russia is leading an alliance of ex-Soviet states in sending what they call peacekeeping forces.

Dozens of Protesters and Police Dead amid Kazakhstan Unrest

THE GUARDIAN: Witnesses in Almaty describe scenes of chaos in streets as Russian ‘peacekeepers’ arrive in country

Footage showed violent clashes between protesters and authorities in a number of different cities. Photograph: Valery Sharifulin/Tass
Dozens of protesters and at least 12 police officers have died in ongoing violence in Kazakhstan, authorities have claimed, as “peacekeepers” from a Russian-led military alliance arrived in the country at the request of the embattled president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

Witnesses in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, described scenes of chaos on Thursday, with government buildings being stormed or set on fire and widespread looting. Many of those demonstrating said the protests had begun peacefully earlier in the week, and turned violent after a heavy-handed government response.

The interior ministry said 2,298 people had been arrested during the unrest, while the police spokesperson Saltanat Azirbek told the state news channel Khabar-24 that “dozens of attackers were liquidated”. There were also reports of about 400 people in hospital.

City officials in Almaty said 748 officers from police and the national guard had been injured and 18 killed, one of whom they claimed had been found beheaded. » | Shaun Walker | Thursday, January 6, 2022


Émeutes au Kazakhstan : des «dizaines» de morts, des troupes russes sur place : EN IMAGES - Le pays d'Asie centrale est ébranlé par un mouvement de colère qui a éclaté dimanche après une hausse des prix du gaz. Washington a mis en garde les soldats russes. »

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