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Kazakh President Issues Shoot-to-Kill Order to Quell Protests

By VOA News January 07, 2022

Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev issued a shoot-to-kill order Friday for security forces dealing with protesters following a week of unrest in the Central Asian country.

In a televised national address, the president said, "Terrorists continue to damage state and private property and use weapons against civilians. I have given the order to law enforcement to shoot to kill without warning."

In the address, Tokayev dismissed international calls for his government to negotiate with the protesters — which he continues to claim, without evidence, are trained and organized by unnamed foreign entities.

"What nonsense," he said. "What kind of negotiations can there be with criminals, with murderers?"

He called the protesters bandits and terrorists who must be destroyed, and he promised this would be done shortly. He also thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for promptly sending troops, at Tokayev's request, to help crack down on the protests.

Regional leaders reacted Friday to the developments in Kazakhstan. In Berlin, German Foreign Ministry spokesman Christofer Burger said they were still investigating the reports, but he questioned the use of lethal force against civilians and said the government bears responsibility for the protection of its citizens.

During a joint news conference in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, European Council President Ursula Von der Leyen called for the rights and security of the Kazakh citizens to be protected, and both leaders called for an end to the violence. France currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.

Thursday, as news spread of Russian-led troops helping to quell the unrest, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters, "The United States and, frankly, the world will be watching for any violation of human rights."

Reports from Kazakhstan's main city, Almaty, said that while sporadic gunfire could be heard early Friday, the unrest appeared have paused, with similar reports from other cities.

The demonstrations began late last week in the western part of the country in protest against doubling fuel prices. But because they grew and spread so quickly, some political observers suggested they reflected wider discontent in the country, where residents have lived under authoritarianism since the nation gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. VOA's Mandarin Service and Fern Robinson contributed to this report.