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Crowds Gather in Zhanaozen as Kazakh Government Quells Protests

Residents of Zhanaozen gathered and prayed on January 8 as Kazakhstan’s security forces tightened their grip in the capital, Nur-Sultan, and in cities across the country.

On January 6, a spokesman for the police in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, said “dozens” of people had been killed by security forces overnight.

According to the United Nations, nearly 1,000 people were injured in protests over the last week. The Kazakh Interior Ministry said 16 law enforcement officers had died since January 2.

Troops from the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) arrived in Kazakhstan on January 6, after Kazakhstan’s president requested assistance in quelling protests.

Footage by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty shows people praying in Zhanaozen and people shopping in a supermarket in Nur-Sultan.

The Kazakh government declared Monday, January 10, a national day of mourning after the worst violence in the Central Asian country’s 30 years of independence, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Credit: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty via Storyful