(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
Almost 400 fighters of the National Guard of Kazakhstan were injured during the riots in the republic, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard Ruslan Zhaksylykov said, Trend reports citing TASS .
'Fighters of the National Guard are on duty around the clock. During the maintenance of law and order in the cities: Almaty, Shymkent and a number of regional centers, as a result of the confrontation with the hooligan crowd, the number of injured National Guard soldiers reached 394 people. In addition, during the riots, over 90 units of military equipment of the National Guard were damaged', he said.
Kazakhstan's government announced late Jan. 4 that it was restoring some price caps on liquefied petroleum gas, after the rare protests reached Almaty following a sharp rise in the price of the fuel at the start of the year.
Many Kazakhs have converted their cars to run on LPG, which is far cheaper than gasoline as a vehicle fuel in Kazakhstan because of price caps. But the government argued that the low price was unsustainable and lifted the caps on Jan. 1.
After the price of the fuel spiked, big demonstrations erupted on Jan. 2 in certain parts of the country. Public protests are illegal in the country unless their organizers file a notice in advance.
Following the development of the situation, the government declared a state of emergency all over the country. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the government initiated anti-terrorist operations to deal with the ongoing riots.
Also, the divisions of the united peacekeeping contingent of CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) arrived in Kazakhstan to assist in restoring order and help protect strategic objects of the country.
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