Kazakhstan says 164 people, including two children, killed during unrest and 5,800 detained
- Protests in former Soviet republic began a week ago against fuel price increase before becoming wider anti-government protest
- President Tokayev says ‘order stabilised’; he had authorised police and military to shoot to kill and Russia-led military alliance had sent troops
The figures reported on the state news channel Khabar-24 are a significant rise from previous tallies. It was not clear if the deaths refer only to civilians or if law-enforcement deaths are included.
Kazakh authorities said earlier on Sunday that 16 police or national guard had been killed. Authorities previously gave the civilian death toll as 26.
Demonstrations began a week ago against a fuel price rise before exploding into a wider protest against the government. The health ministry said 103 people had died in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, where the worst of the violence took place.
The office of Kazakhstan’s president said about 5,800 people were detained by police during the protests that prompted a Russia-led military alliance to send troops to the country.