After days of violent protests, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev vowed to destroy “armed bandits” and gave “special thanks” to Russia’s Vladimir Putin for sending troops to quell the unrest.
Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Friday declared that constitutional order was “mainly restored” after the unprecedented unrest in recent days.
Protests had erupted over surging fuel prices and escalated into an uprising against corruption. Violent clashes between protesters and security forces left dozens of demonstrators and forces killed.
In a televised address on Friday, Tokayev said he had given security forces orders to open fire without warning if there were further disturbances.
The president made reference to “20,000 bandits” who had attacked the country’s largest city of Almaty and vowed to destroy them.
“Terrorists continue to damage property […] and use weapons against civilians. I have given the order to law enforcement to shoot to kill without warning,” Tokayev said in his third televised address to the nation this week.
