Kazakhstan activists recall path from protest to bloodshed

Riot police block demonstrators throughout a protest in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Jan. 5, 2022. At demonstrations in Almaty, protesters say teams of armed males reportedly joined the peaceable rallies and urged the storming of police stations and authorities buildings.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) — The mass protests in Kazakhstan started peacefully over the New 12 months’s weekend, with marchers denouncing a pointy rise in gasoline costs. They unfold rapidly from the western a part of the Central Asian nation to extra populous areas, ultimately reaching its largest metropolis of Almaty.

However one thing modified over the course of every week.

Teams of armed males appeared in Almaty, with some seen using in vehicles with out license plates or with their faces coated. Marchers on the peaceable protests say these males started urging them to storm authorities buildings, promising to provide them weapons.

Clashes with police quickly broke out, and by the evening of Jan. 5, Almaty was in chaos. Metropolis Corridor was burning, as have been vehicles and buses; shops have been looted; and makes an attempt have been made to storm the presidential residence. Gunshots have been heard within the streets, the web was blacked out, and even the airport was briefly seized.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has blamed the unrest on “terrorists” who acquired overseas coaching and assist.

However practically two weeks after the occasions that led to scores of deaths and about 16,000 arrests, the federal government has not introduced any proof to assist its allegation of outdoor involvement.

It stays unclear whether or not these extra violent actors have been people making the most of the mayhem to loot and vandalize shops, or in the event that they have been a part of organized teams with bigger political motives.

Protesters, nonetheless, say their rallies have been by some means undermined, resulting in the crackdown by safety forces. Tokayev has stated authorities didn’t use drive at peaceable demonstrations.

Though the protests started over the upper value of gasoline, the scope and the agenda of the demonstrations expanded rapidly. Giant crowds rallied in main cities, venting their frustration with worsening dwelling circumstances and inequality below the authoritarian authorities that has maintained a decent grip on energy for over three a long time within the energy-rich nation of 19 million.

A lot of that occurred below longtime chief Nursultan Nazarbayev, who stepped down in 2019 in favor of Tokayev, his hand-picked successor, however has maintained behind-the-scenes affect. The slogan “Shal ket!” — “Outdated man go!” — was chanted at rallies.

“A big a part of the individuals are those that got here on the name of their hearts to specific their perspective in direction of the authorities, as a result of they're drained, as a result of they don't really feel just like the state is offering them with social safety,” stated human rights activist Galym Ageleuov, president of the Liberty Basis.

Tokayev initially tried to calm the crowds by asserting a 180-day cap on gasoline costs and eradicating Nazarbayev as head of the Nationwide Safety Council, a transfer broadly seen as an try to finish the previous chief’s patronage whereas additionally consolidating energy.

However the protests continued, and the violence escalated amid the peaceable rallies in Almaty.

A protester whose first identify is Bezshan stated that on Jan. 5, armed males approached and requested younger folks within the crowd to assist them storm a police station. “They stated they'd hand out weapons,” he advised The Related Press, recalling the incident greater than every week later. AP has chosen to not publish the total names of protesters interviewed out of warning for his or her safety.

Beken, one other protester, stated he additionally noticed “provocateurs” on the rally that day, urging an assault on police: “We tried to cease them as a lot as we might, telling them: ‘Everybody, keep put.’ We don’t want weapons, we got here out to a peaceable rally,” he stated.

On Jan. 6, safety forces opened fireplace and killed dozens of protesters. At the very least 12 officers additionally have been reported killed. The subsequent day, Tokayev introduced he had given safety forces shoot-to-kill orders to halt the violent unrest, saying: “We intend to behave with most severity relating to lawbreakers.”

Almaty police spokeswoman Saltynat Azirbek known as the Jan. 5 assault on the police division “a correct battle.”

The attackers “didn’t put ahead any calls for,” she advised reporters. “They intentionally got here to destroy, to kill.”

She additionally insisted police have been unarmed when working at unsanctioned demonstrations in Almaty, however she didn’t make clear whether or not she meant the Jan. 6 rally.

Amid the bloodshed, Tokayev additionally known as in troops from the Collective Safety Treaty Group, a Russia-led army alliance of six former Soviet states, which helped restore order.

Some noticed the blaming of overseas instigators as a pretext for bringing within the largely Russian forces.

“In an effort to invite Russian troops, you want a critical purpose ... that isn't an inner standoff with the folks,“ political analyst Dimash Alzhayev stated in an interview. ”So naturally, (the authorities) wanted to give you terrorists.”

A protester named Marat advised AP that the authorities “haven’t to date confirmed us a single terrorist,” citing solely the extremely publicized arrest of Vikram Ruzakhunov, a widely known jazz pianist from neighboring Kyrgyzstan.

The musician appeared on Kazakh tv after his arrest with giant bruises on his face and stated within the broadcast he had flown in and was promised cash for collaborating within the protests.

Kyrgyz authorities protested Ruzakhunov’s arrest and demanded that Kazakhstan launch him. He was freed shortly afterward, and upon returning to Kyrgyzstan stated his assertion on Kazakh TV was false — he was visiting a pal in Almaty and received swept up whereas attempting to go away the town.

Ruzakhnunov advised a Kyrgyz broadcaster that whereas in jail, his cellmates stated the quickest technique to get launched was to admit to a false story, in order that’s what he did.

Alzhanov, the analyst, famous that Kazakh state broadcasters amplified the federal government’s message by repeatedly airing video of the turmoil.

“They continued broadcasting the visuals, so the federal government was enthusiastic about speaking them to a broad viewers,” he stated, including that the state of emergency that was declared supplied a pretext to suppress the demonstrations with drive.

A protester named Daulet advised AP that he believed the “safety forces intentionally painted the protesters as some form of a fringe group ready to riot.”

Beken, the protester who described seeing what he known as “provocateurs,” criticized the safety forces “for capturing at their very own folks.” He stated a Jan. 6 rally he attended featured protesters strolling towards the army with a white flag.

“It's unfathomable. I can’t perceive it. How is that this doable?” he stated.