NUR-SULTAN, January 7. /TASS/. Curfew has been extended in Kazakhstan’s city of Taraz from seven in the evening to seven in the morning and the alarm level has been raised to Red due to mass riots, the Khabar-24 television channel reported on Friday, citing the region’s head, Berdibek Saparbayev.
Previously, the curfew was in force from 23:00. "It is forbidden to leave home during this time. Those who violate law will be brought to responsibility. We did not use force against criminals for two days and they set on fire several administrative buildings. Now, we have begun clamp down on them. The red alarm level has been imposed in the city. The special operation continues. That is why we ask people not to leave their homes without necessity and obey by the curfew rules," he told Khabar-24.
Eleven checkpoints have been set up around the city. Several buildings, including the buildings of the city administration, the ruling party office and the police department, were damaged.
Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2 to grow into mass riots with attacks on government buildings in many cities several days later. Thousands have been injured and fatalities have also been reported. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev asked help from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, or CSTO, a post-Soviet security bloc. CSTO peacekeepers have already been deployed to Kazakhstan. According to the Kazakh authorities, law and order had been restored in all of the country’s regions by the morning on January 7. However, the situation in Almaty is still very tense.