ALMATY, January 7. /TASS/. Gunfire continues in the area of Almaty’s Republic Square, according to a TASS reporter.
Dead bodies are seen outside. There are some cars riddled with bullets and at least two of them have bodies inside.
The square is the center of the action in the morning hours while the rest of the city is relatively quiet, with gunshot heard only at times.
The TASS reporter confirmed the information, which was earlier released by the city’s commandant’s office, that many rioters are moving around the city in cars without registration plates.
Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2, later growing into mass riots and attacks on government offices. Thousands of casualties have been reported, including fatalities. The Kazakh president asked the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a military alliance of former Soviet republics, for help. First peacekeeping units have already started fulfilling their tasks in Kazakhstan. The government said order has generally been restored in all of the country’s regions by the morning of January 7, while the situation is the most difficult in Almaty.