Report: Kazakh president’s home ablaze as protests escalate
Like Ukraine, Kazakhstan has a significant Russian-speaking minority along its border with Russia. Just as in Ukraine, Russia has made a strong effort to convince those Russian-speaking people that Russia is their true home and potential savior. Kazakhstan's government has been pro-Russian since independence, sometimes strongly so.
There are concerns that Russia may intervene in the unrest. Possibly to shore up the pro-Russian Kazakh government, or possibly to secure the Russian speaking areas. Like they did in Ukraine. Or Russia may have been caught flat-footed in this because they were focused on Ukraine.
Lots of pro-Russian social media blaming the Kazakh unrest on the U.S. and its allies, of course.
ETA: Interesting to see some of the differences. The protests were first started due to the rise in LPG (Natural Gas to us Yanks), which is used mostly as fuel for vehicles in Kazakhstan. Also these protests are occurring in bitter cold weather - here in the U.S. riots and large street protests are largely a warm-weather phenomenon, but I guess Kazakhs and Ukrainian protestors (Maidan was also in cold weather) are made of tougher stuff.
ETA2: Images of the protests show riot police mixed in with the protesters, and some protesters wearing riot police body armor over civilian clothes - they disarmed some of the riot police and stripped them or their body armor. There were reports of private flights out of the country's largest airport, but protesters have since secured the airport. The presidential palace is on fire and protestors are in the parliament chambers. It ain't over yet, but it looks like a revolution is happening.
Quote:
|
Protesters in Kazakhstan’s largest city stormed the presidential residence and the mayor’s office on Wednesday and set both buildings on fire, according to new reports, as demonstrations sparked by a rise in fuel prices in the Central Asian nation escalated sharply. Police fired on some protesters at the presidential palace before fleeing. They have clashed repeatedly with demonstrators in recent days, deploying water cannons in the freezing weather, tear gas and concussion grenades. The government resigned in response to the unrest and the president vowed to take harsh measures to quell it. In possibly the first of those efforts, Kazakh news sites became inaccessible late in the day, and the global watchdog organization Netblocks said the country was experiencing a pervasive internet blackout. |
Like Ukraine, Kazakhstan has a significant Russian-speaking minority along its border with Russia. Just as in Ukraine, Russia has made a strong effort to convince those Russian-speaking people that Russia is their true home and potential savior. Kazakhstan's government has been pro-Russian since independence, sometimes strongly so.
There are concerns that Russia may intervene in the unrest. Possibly to shore up the pro-Russian Kazakh government, or possibly to secure the Russian speaking areas. Like they did in Ukraine. Or Russia may have been caught flat-footed in this because they were focused on Ukraine.
Lots of pro-Russian social media blaming the Kazakh unrest on the U.S. and its allies, of course.
ETA: Interesting to see some of the differences. The protests were first started due to the rise in LPG (Natural Gas to us Yanks), which is used mostly as fuel for vehicles in Kazakhstan. Also these protests are occurring in bitter cold weather - here in the U.S. riots and large street protests are largely a warm-weather phenomenon, but I guess Kazakhs and Ukrainian protestors (Maidan was also in cold weather) are made of tougher stuff.
ETA2: Images of the protests show riot police mixed in with the protesters, and some protesters wearing riot police body armor over civilian clothes - they disarmed some of the riot police and stripped them or their body armor. There were reports of private flights out of the country's largest airport, but protesters have since secured the airport. The presidential palace is on fire and protestors are in the parliament chambers. It ain't over yet, but it looks like a revolution is happening.
via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/3qRjTvF
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire