Kazakhstan president vows to destroy ‘bandits and terrorists’ behind protests
The president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has promised an uncompromising crackdown on demonstrators in the country, telling security forces they should “use lethal force without warning” against protesters he called “bandits and terrorists”.
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Photograph: Abduaziz Madyarov/AFP/Getty Images
As relative calm returned to the country on Friday, after several days in which internet and mobile phone networks were disabled, the human cost of the week started to become apparent.
The interior ministry said 26 protesters were killed in the clashes as well as 18 people from police and security forces. Witness reports of shootouts and casualties suggest that the real figures may be considerably higher. More than 3,800 people had been detained, the ministry said.
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Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Photograph: Kazakh President Press Service Handout/EPA
In a televised address on Friday, Tokayev said he had personally given the order to use lethal force in recent days, and also blamed “so-called free media outlets” for helping to fan unrest.
“Abroad there are calls for the two sides to hold negotiations for a peaceful resolution. What idiocy. What kind of negotiations can you have with criminals? We were dealing with armed and well-prepared bandits, both local and foreign. Bandits and terrorists, who should be destroyed. This will happen in the nearest time.”
Video: Uprising in Kazakhstan continues (Sky News Australia)
Promising the crackdown would continue, Tokayev said he had created a special inter-agency group to track down violent protesters. He claimed that “all demands made in a peaceful form have been heard”, but appeared to dismiss a large proportion of the protesters as criminals, saying “20,000 bandits” were involved in the unrest in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city and the centre of recent tumult. This suggested a large-scale operation could be launched to hunt down others.
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The protests were sparked this week by a sudden rise in fuel prices combined with long-simmering frustrations over the political and economic situation in the country. The peaceful demonstrations turned violent on Wednesday, with crowds seizing government buildings and widespread looting.
Tokayev’s response included accepting the resignation of the government and announcing fixed fuel prices, but also ordering the crackdown. Earlier on Friday, government figures insisted that security forces had the situation under control across the country, including in Almaty. However, there were reports of fresh gunfire in the city, and in the town of Taldykorgan there were reports that people had attempted to storm a prison.
The airport in Almaty is closed to all but military traffic until at least Sunday, and is being guarded by “peacekeeping forces” sent by Russia and other nations from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
In his address, Tokayev thanked Russia for sending the troops but said they had not taken part in any fighting. The Russian defence ministry said Russian peacekeepers were guarding key infrastructure sites. The ministry said 75 planes were used to transport troops and equipment to Kazakhstan. The force totals about 2,500 personnel, the regional alliance has said.
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Protesters gather in a square in Zhanaozen. Photograph: Orda.kz/Tass
The Kremlin said on Friday that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had discussed the situation in Kazakhstan with Tokayev in several phone calls. The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, praised Tokayev for “decisively taken strong measures at critical moments and quickly calming down the situation”. Meanwhile, the response from the west has been muted, a tacit admission that it has little sway over events in the country at a time when diplomatic attention is focused on deterring a Russian incursion into Ukraine.
Tokayev has insisted there was “foreign backing” for the protests, a line he used to call for the CSTO deployment, and an accusation that has frequently been claimed by autocratic leaders in the region about largely homegrown protests. He has not provided any evidence of foreign backing so far.
Some analysts suggest there could be a behind-the-scenes battle between different factions in the country’s elite. Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country’s first president who ruled from independence in 1991 until 2019 and handpicked Tokayev as his successor, has not been seen in public since the new year. Much of the anger of the past week has been directed against him, and there are rumours he may have left the country.
Source: Thanks msn.com