- Title: Police break up anti-government protest in Kazakhstan
- Date: 21st May 2016
- Summary: ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN (MAY 21, 2016) (REUTERS) REPUBLIC SQUARE POLICE WRINGING HANDS OF PROTESTER, FOUR OFFICERS CARRYING PROTESTER TO TRUCK CROWD OF PROTESTERS POLICE TRYING TO DETAIN WOMAN, PROTESTERS STRUGGLING TO FREE HER, PROTESTER BEING LED TO POLICE TRUCK RIOT POLICE PEOPLE IN STREET, PROTESTERS BEING DETAINED DETAINED MEDIA, FILMED FROM INSIDE POLICE TRUCK VARIOUS OF CROWD OF PROTESTERS ELDERLY MAN ARGUING WITH POLICE WOMAN IN CROWD HOLDING SMALL KAZAKH FLAG VARIOUS OF POLICE OFFICERS DRAGGING PROTESTERS TO TRUCK, PROTESTERS STRUGGLING TO BREAK FREE VARIOUS OF RIOT POLICE WATCHING VARIOUS OF POLICE DETAINING PROTESTERS POLICE OFFICERS IN CROWD POLICE LEADING PROTESTERS TO TRUCK POLICE OFFICER CLOSING TRUCK DOOR PROTESTERS MARCHING IN STREET, SINGING VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN CROWD POLICE OFFICER GIVING ORDERS VARIOUS OF POLICE DETAINING PEOPLE
- Embargoed: 5th June 2016 11:20
- Keywords: Kazakhstan Almaty rally protest
- Location: ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN
- City: ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN
- Country: Kazakhstan
- Reuters ID: LVA0014IR281Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Police broke up an anti-government protest in Kazakhstan's biggest city Almaty on Saturday (May 21), detaining dozens of protesters and cordoning off the city's main square.
Opponents of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has been in power since 1989, had called for rallies on Saturday in all major cities, extending a series of demonstrations that started last month in response to plans to privatize large tracts of farmland.
Around 100 protesters had gathered at a police checkpoint that blocked access to Almaty's main square.
Reuters witnesses saw police in full riot gear chase the protesters down the street, detaining them one-by-one and putting them into buses.
Police also briefly detained two Reuters reporters but released them after driving them a short distance in a police van.
Kazakh authorities had warned that the planned rallies were "illegal" and that authorities would react.
'Law enforcement bodies are obliged to prevent any violations and immediately take the necessary legal measures including criminal prosecution,' Prosecutor General Zhakip Asanov had said in a statement on Friday (May 20).
Earlier this week, police and courts detained at least half a dozen activists in several cities who had planned to take part in Saturday's protests.
Although relatively small so far, with the biggest no more than a few thousand strong, the recent protests have become the most visible and geographically broad display of public discontent against the president's rule in more than a decade. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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