After four days of protests and the arrival of Russian military in the country, Kazakhstan is counting the death toll. At least 26 protesters were killed.
Kazakhstan’s president said on Friday that constitutional order had been “largely restored” after the country was engulfed in unprecedented unrest in recent days.
“An anti-terrorism operation has begun. Law enforcement is working hard. Constitutional order has largely been restored in all regions of the country. Local authorities are in control of the situation,” said the spokesman for Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Friday.
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The president added, however, that “terrorists are still using weapons and damaging people’s property” and that “counter-terrorism operations” would continue.
Kazakhstan is experiencing the largest and most significant street protests since the country gained independence three decades ago. The demonstrations began due to the increase in the prices of liquid gas and quickly spread throughout the country, fueled by a wider discontent with the government and the power system that has held the country since independence.
The protests were also very violent, with some government buildings set on fire and dozens of protesters and more than a dozen law enforcement officers killed.
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To restore calm, the government has reintroduced a ceiling on the price of fuels and announced a moratorium on increases in the tariffs of public services. Tokayev tried to appease the protesters by accepting the government’s resignation, but he also used harsh tones against what he called “terrorist gangs” and called for help from a Russian-led military alliance.
The alliance, the collective security treaty organization, includes the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and has begun deploying troops to Kazakhstan for a mission of peacekeeping.
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