Fresh violence erupted in Kazakhstan’s main city on Thursday (January 6) after Russia rushed in paratroopers overnight to put down a countrywide uprising in one of Moscow’s closest former Soviet allies.
Police in the main city Almaty said they had killed dozens of rioters overnight. The authorities said at least 18 members of the security forces had died, including two found decapitated. More than 2,000 people had been arrested.
Kazakh police published several videos and still images showing what they said was protesters clashing with police officers in various regions of the country, without specifying when most of them happened.
A video filmed, according to the police, in Almaty, shows CCTV footage of armed officers examining weapons on and around a car and guarding four men, whose faces are blurred, with body lying in the street nearby.