Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said Sunday there were civilian and law enforcement casualties after rare protests in the Central Asian country, and an exiled opposition politician said at least five people had been killed.
Separately, a local government official told an Uzbek news website that thousands of people were hospitalized.
In a statement posted online, Mirziyoyev said the rebels carried out “destructive acts” in the city of Nukus, capital of the northwestern Karakalpakstan region, throwing stones, setting fires and attacking police.
“Unfortunately, there are civilian and law enforcement casualties,” he said. The announcement did not specify the number and nature of the victims.
Sultanbek Ziyayev, head of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, told the Daryo.uz news website that hospitals in Nukus were full of patients who were injured in clashes between protesters and security forces.
“Thousands of injured have been hospitalized and are being treated,” he said, according to the website.
Pictures from Nukus, published on Sunday by another news website, Kun.uz, showed street barricades, burned trucks and a heavy military presence, including armored personnel carriers.
An Uzbek law enforcement officer guards a street in Nukus, the capital of the northwestern Karakalpakstan region, Uzbekistan.KUN.UZ/Share via REUTERS
Videos shared on social media showed at least two seriously injured people being carried by their arms and legs. One was bleeding from the stomach and the other was screaming.
Another showed a young man crouching next to an apparently lifeless body in the street, shouting “A man is dying” and then running for cover as gunshots rang out. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the videos.
Exiled opposition politician Pulat Akhunov told Reuters that based on contacts with local sources and video evidence, at least five people had been killed. He said there were unconfirmed reports of dozens more dead.
Ahunov said that people cannot move around and get more information because of the state of emergency imposed by the authorities.
Uzbekistan is a tightly controlled former Soviet republic where the government firmly suppresses any form of dissent. It was the second outbreak of unrest in Central Asia this year after Kazakhstan quelled mass protests in January and Russia and other former Soviet republics sent troops to help authorities restore order.
The protests in Uzbekistan were sparked by planned constitutional changes that would strip Karakalpakstan of autonomous status. In turn, the president abandoned those plans on Saturday.
Akhunov, chairman of the opposition Berlik party, told Reuters from Sweden that he condemned the use of lethal force.
“From the beginning, the authorities should have chosen dialogue and negotiations,” he said.
He said he feared the situation could escalate into an ethnic conflict between Uzbeks and Karakalpaks, a minority group with their own language. Authorities have called a public meeting for Tuesday to discuss the situation, he added.
Kazakhstan said it was concerned by the events in Uzbekistan and welcomed the authorities’ actions to stabilize the situation.
Steve Swerdlow, an associate professor of human rights at the University of Southern California and an expert on the region, said Uzbekistan needs to be as transparent as possible about declaring casualties and the use of force and, in the longer term, look at what the underlying concerns are. of the protests.
Add Comment