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Five hundred rioters detained in eastern Kazakhstan

25 law enforcement officers wounded

NUR-SULTAN, January 8. /TASS/. More than 3,000 people participated in mass riots in eastern Kazakhstan, with 500 of them detained, and 25 law enforcement officers wounded, the Khabar-24 TV channel reported on Saturday citing the head of the press service of the police department of the republic’s Eastern-Kazakh region.

"The attackers were in the state of alcoholic and other, including drug, intoxication. <…> Twenty-five officers were wounded, including those with knife wounds, with some taken to hospital," the head of the press service said.

Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2, escalating into mass riots with government buildings getting ransacked in several cities a few days later. The ensuing violence left scores of people injured, with fatalities also being reported. Subsequently, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev turned to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) requesting assistance from the Russia-led bloc. As a result, peacekeepers have already been deployed to Kazakhstan. Law and order, Kazakh authorities affirm, was restored to all of the country’s regions by the morning of January 7. However, the situation remains tense in Almaty.