In Almaty, the military expanded the perimeter of the closed zone around Republic Square

In Kazakhstan, the military has increased the perimeter of a closed zone around Republic Square in Almaty. You cannot approach the square. Noticing a “suspicious crowd of people”, the military begins “with a warning to shoot in their direction,” transfers TASS.

At the fences, people in civilian clothes with the rods of traffic controllers are on duty. Only cars of people living in the nearest houses are allowed through the fences.

On Friday morning, the sounds of gunfire were heard regularly near Republic Square, but by evening the shooting had subsided. Trucks and armored personnel carriers are standing in the square.

There are several cars in the Republic Square and nearby streets, which were fired upon at night. The bodies of those killed were left inside the cars.

In Kazakhstan, protests erupted early in the year over a sharp rise in the price of liquefied gas. The rallies began on January 2 in Zhanaozen, later the residents of the city were supported in many other settlements. In clashes with protesters, the security forces used gas, stun grenades, and small arms.

On the morning of January 5, the country’s president, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, dismissed the government and headed the republic’s Security Council, removing the first head of state, Nursultan Nazarbayev, from this post. In addition, the president stressed that the authorities will act as tough as possible in relation to offenders. On the same day, a state of emergency was introduced in the country for two weeks.

On the night of January 6, Tokayev held the first meeting of the Security Council under his leadership, at which he called the situation in Kazakhstan “undermining the integrity of the state” and said that he had asked the CSTO for help “in overcoming the terrorist threat.” On the same night, the CSTO Collective Security Council decided to send collective peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan in connection with Tokayev’s appeal. Russian military transport aviation is involved in the transfer of military personnel to Kazakhstan from the Russian Federation, Belarus, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.

Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan statedthat during the riots in the country, 18 security officials were killed, 748 were wounded, 2298 people were detained. The number of protesters killed is not disclosed. However, the independent coordination headquarters reported that during clashes with security forces on Republic Square in Almaty perished at least 30 protesters.