Security officials in Kazakhstan detained more than 3 thousand people

As Interfax reports with reference to the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic, now all the buildings of akimats (regional administrations) in Kazakhstan have already been vacated and taken under the protection of law enforcement agencies.

“At present, more than 3 thousand people have been detained, 26 have been liquidated, and another 18 have been wounded”, - is stated in the message.

The General Prosecutor's Office of Kazakhstan opened criminal cases on the fact of the organization of riots in the country. The accused face severe punishments: from 8 years in prison to life imprisonment with deprivation of citizenship.

Protests in Kazakhstan, which began as a reaction to a sharp increase in fuel prices in the west of the country, have continued since January 2. By January 4-5, they covered the entire republic, and the economic demands of the protesters grew into political ones. The participants in the speeches demanded the resignation from the leading post of the head of the Security Council of the former President of the country, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and demolished a monument dedicated to him.

During the clashes between the protesters and the security forces, more than 1,000 people were injured, the police opened fire on the participants in the riots, as a result, dozens were killed, about 400 people were hospitalized.

On the morning of January 5, Kazakh President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev declared a state of emergency and dismissed the government. He also stripped Nazarbayev of his post. At the same time, Tokayev turned to the CSTO with an application for military assistance, stating a "terrorist threat from the outside" and the need to fight the "marauders".

In response, Russia sent airborne troops to Kazakhstan as peacekeepers. The forces also included units of the armed forces of Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. This aroused the indignation of representatives of the Congress of the Russian intelligentsia and part of the residents of Kyrgyzstan, who went to a protest in Bishkek against the dispatch of troops to Kazakhstan.

In the afternoon of January 6, it became known that the protesters, upon learning of Nazarbayev's resignation, announced that their demands had been met and they began to disperse peacefully.