Kazakhstan: First civilian plane arrives at Almaty airport since start of unrest

The first civilian plane landed at Almaty City airport in Kazakhstan on Thursday, making it the first such flight since the declaration of emergency in the country in the wake of worsening civil unrest. The airport is currently guarded by paramilitary forces as protests against skyrocketing fuel prices turned bloody in the past week. Since then, only military planes were allowed to touch down airports in the country.

This comes after the Civil Aviation Committee (CAC) of Kazakhstan earlier in the week had stated that civil aircraft operations will resume in the country from January 13. Nevertheless, the state of emergency will continue until January 19. For a recap, anti-government protests sparked in Kazakhstan on January 2 over the two-fold increase in the price of liquified petroleum gas (LPG). Over the next week, the demonstrations turned violent leading to the death of 164 people and injuries to more than hundreds.

Meanwhile, in a bid to ease the widespread violence, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered a 180-day cap on fuel prices. In addition to the step down of the country's cabinet, he also fired leader Nursultan Nazarbayev from the post of National Security Council chief. President Tokayev also welcomed the involvement of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) troops to assist the state military in order to "restore peace and order" in Kazakhstan. Without solid evidence, he also went to blame external influence and "foreign-trained bandits and terrorists" for the nearly 10-days long mass violence in the country.

More than 12,000 detained in Kazakhstan unrest

The civil unrest has led to the detention of nearly 12,000 citizens, including 1,678 arrests on Wednesday. Over 300 people among the detained will face criminal charges for alleged assault on law enforcers. The discontent among the civilians of the country escalated after authoritarian President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered the state military to "shoot without warning."

"Terrorists continue to damage state and private property and use weapons against citizens... I gave an order to the law enforcement agencies and the army to open fire, to kill without warning," Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Friday, as quoted by CNN.

Agitated protestors last week set government buildings on fire and briefly seized the Almaty airport, which led security forces to respond with stun grenades and live ammunition. The deadliest outburst in 30-years rocked the country of 19 million, killing over 100 in Almaty City alone.

(Image: AP/Unsplash (representative)