Kazakhstan president gives shoot to kill order to ‘destroy’ protesters
- President said ‘bandits and terrorists … criminals and murderers’ must be pursued to the end; dismissed calls to hold talks with protesters as ‘stupidity’
- ‘The militants have not laid down their arms, they continue to commit crimes or are preparing for them ...Whoever does not surrender will be destroyed,’ Tokayev said
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Friday he had given shoot-to-kill orders to deal with further disturbances from those he called bandits and terrorists, adding that those who failed to surrender would be “destroyed.”
Up to 20,000 “bandits” had attacked the biggest city Almaty and had been destroying state property, Tokayev said in a televised address after a week when protests over fuel prices exploded into a countrywide wave of unrest.
He said as part of the “counterterrorist” operation, he had ordered law enforcement agencies and the army “to shoot to kill without warning.”
“The militants have not laid down their arms, they continue to commit crimes or are preparing for them. The fight against them must be pursued to the end. Whoever does not surrender will be destroyed,” Tokayev said on state television.
He dismissed calls to hold talks with protesters.
“What stupidity. What kind of talks can we hold with criminals and murderers?” he said.
“We had to deal with armed and well-prepared bandits, local as well as foreign. More precisely, with terrorists. So we have to destroy them, this will be done soon”.
04:08
Russian troops arrive in Kazakhstan as president issues ‘fire without warning’ order
He said peacekeeping forces sent from Russia and neighbouring states had arrived on Kazakhstan’s request and were in the country on a temporary basis to ensure security.
It was critically important to understand why the state had “slept through the underground preparation of terrorist attacks, of militant sleeper cells”, Tokayev added.
Earlier on Friday security forces appeared to be in control of the streets of Kazakhstan’s main city Almaty when the president said constitutional order had mostly been restored, a day after Russia sent troops to put down a countrywide uprising.
However, fresh gunshots could be heard in the morning near the city’s central square, where troops and protesters had battled through much of the previous day.
Dozens of people have been killed in clashes on the streets and protesters have torched and ransacked public buildings in several cities in the worst violence in the Central Asian state’s 30 years of independence.
Russia sends troops to Kazakhstan as ‘dozens’ killed in unrest
The interior ministry said security forces had taken all the country’s regions “under increased protection” and that 26 “armed criminals” had been killed and 18 wounded in the unrest.
“The constitutional order has been mainly restored in all regions,” President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in a statement after meeting with top officials.
“But terrorists are still using weapons, causing damage to civilian property. The counterterrorist operation will continue until the total destruction of the militants,” he said.
Protesters stormed government buildings in Almaty on Wednesday and fought running battles with police and the military, with officials saying 748 security officers were wounded and 18 killed, including two had been decapitated.
Tokayev declared a nationwide state of emergency and appealed for help from the CSTO, which includes five other ex-Soviet states, to combat what he called “terrorist groups” that had “received extensive training abroad”. It marked the alliance’s first major joint action since its founding in 1999.
Powerful Kazakhstan ex-leader is main target of protesters’ anger
Russia said it saw the unrest as “an attempt inspired from outside to undermine the security and integrity” of Kazakhstan.
On Friday morning, Reuters correspondents saw armoured personal carriers and troops in the main square of Almaty.
A few hundred metres away, a dead body lay in a heavily damaged civilian car. In another part of the city, an ammunition shop had been ransacked. Military vehicles and about 100 people in military uniforms had also taken positions at another square in Almaty.
02:14
Dozens reportedly killed by security forces in Kazakhstan as protesters storm government buildings
Kazakhstan’s interior ministry said Thursday it had detained about 2,300 people. Officials said more than 1,000 people had been wounded in the unrest, with nearly 400 admitted to hospital and 62 in intensive care. Protests spread across the nation of 19 million this week in outrage over a New Year increase in prices for liquid petroleum gas (LPG), which is used to fuel many cars in the country.
Thousands took to the streets in Almaty and in the Western province of Mangystau, saying the price rise was unfair given oil and gas exporter Kazakhstan’s vast energy reserves.
The full picture of the chaos was often unclear, with widespread disruptions to communications including mobile phone signals, the blocking of online messengers and hours-long internet shutdowns.
The protests are the biggest threat so far to the regime established by Kazakhstan’s founding president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who stepped down in 2019 and hand-picked Tokayev as his successor.
Tokayev tried to head off further unrest by announcing the resignation of the cabinet early on Wednesday, but protests continued.
Authorities declared a nationwide state of emergency until January 19, with curfews, restrictions on movements and bans on mass gatherings.
The government made another concession on Thursday, setting new fuel price limits for six months, saying “urgent” measures were needed “to stabilise the socio-economic situation”.
Much of the anger appeared directed at Nazarbayev, who is 81 and had ruled Kazakhstan since 1989 before handing power to Tokayev.
Nazarbayev has not been seen or heard from since the protests began. Tokayev has sought to distance himself from his predecessor, removing Nazarbayev and his nephew from security posts since the protests began.
Western countries have called for restraint on all sides, with US State Department spokesman Ned Price warning Russian troops in Kazakhstan against taking control of the country’s institutions.
“The United States and, frankly, the world will be watching for any violation of human rights,” Price said.
Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Bloomberg
