Kazakhstan on the verge of stronger protest
Special security agencies and authorities have tried to break up the Kazakhstan 2012 movement protest
Special security agencies and authorities have tried to break up the Kazakhstan 2012 movement protest action on Sunday, October, 18
On Sunday morning, in the City of Almaty, former capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan, about 200 housing co investors and mortgage holders, participants of the Kazakhstan 2012 Movement, intending to stage a rally from Almaty to Astana, Kazakhstan Capital City, started on three rented buses to Astana, with the aim of submitting a petition to President of the Republic, Prime Minister and MPs protesting government housing policies in the country. The rally was to be joined later by acivitists of other NGOs and protest groups from eight regions of the country: ''Give the People Housing'' Movement, «Movement for Decent Housing», and others.
The main slogan of the rally was :"Change your policies, or we will change you!".
However, they were not to set out on their march as the they had been stalked by several hundeds of police and two buses with OMON riot police at the Sairan bus terminal.
The police surrounded the buses carrying the rally participants and apprehended the bus drivers.
Without any explanations, the security and traffic police officers prevented the people from leaving the place, stating that that rally should have been sanctioned in the Almata administrative district!
The angered crowd of protesters blocked Mate Zalka street having stopped the traffic for fifteen minutes,and was pushed aside by the OMON police later on.
One of the top city officials, Mr. Victor Dolzhenkov, came to the scene to try talking the people into aborting their action.
This only angered the protesters even stronger making them really frenzied, and they demanded that the official be off.
A similar situation occured on the same morning in the city of Shymkent, where a bus carrying another big group of mortage holders was stopped by police, but three hours later the people were let go, after a round of altercations and squabbling.
However, the bus was stopped again at the border of the South Kazakhstan and Jambul regions, on the way to Astana.
That day saw the Kazakhstan 2012 Movement activists change their locations several times on their way, rent several more buses and numerous police, both uniformed and plainclothed, be after them all along their route trying desperately to stop the people from continuing their rally.
Nevertheless, a forty five strong group of people managed to buy train tickets and set out late night of the same day from Almaty to Astana.
Another group of the protesters, about fifty of them, also made their way to Astana from Shymkent and Taraz. Some more activists from other regions preferred to use private cars or trains.
It is worth noting that the reaction of the state authorities to these actions of the population have demonstrated that top officials of Kazakhstan are scared and obviously insecure about the future consequences facing the joint actions staged acrossed the country by mass social movements of people whose housing rights have been violated.
Another result of the police operation is that it helped numerous mortgage holders in the country see better the true colors of the state power and get the people, who until then had trusted the state, rid of their last illusions.
The state repression embittered people, triggered a new wave of indignation among them and resulted in a stronger desire on their part to stage mass and more radical actions of protest across the whole country.
The socialismkz.info web site updates on the detailes of last Sunday's stand off in Kazakhstan and is set to give more news about the situation