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Police break up protest on housing in Kazakhstan

Kazakh police yesterday forcibly broke up a protest against housing problems in the commercial capital Almaty and detained 67 activists, an opposition alliance and rights defenders said.

The protest involved more than 1,000 people, according to participants. It was the latest in a series of demonstrations against city authorities' alleged failure to address low-income housing problems.

Marzhan Aspandiyarova, leader of the Let's Protect Our Home movement, said the protesters had begun to gather on Wednesday afternoon at a major intersection in the Talgar district, seeking a meeting with authorities to lodge their complaints.

She said that after their movement was blocked by police officers they set up two yurts, or felt tents, and camped there until morning.

At around 6:30am, police raided the yurts, beating up protesters and dragging them into buses, Aspandiyarova said. She said some were bruised and required medical aid.

Land and property prices have soared in recent years in Almaty, which is the oil-rich Central Asian state's wealthiest city, making them unaffordable for people with average and low incomes.

Kazakh authorities have become increasingly intolerant of public protests in the run-up to the former Soviet republic's December elections in which long-ruling President Nursultan Nazarbayev will seek re-election for a new seven-year term.

Last month, about 1,000 people attempted to march from their impoverished district in the outskirts of Almaty to the city's main square, but were dispersed by club-wielding riot police. Earlier, police broke up a similar protest outside the city administration building.

The protesters are mainly from the impoverished Shanyrak district in the outskirts of Almaty, where houses are shared by several families. Their repeated requests to city authorities to provide them with land plots have been ignored for years.

The opposition For a Fair Kazakhstan alliance said in a statement, citing the protest participants, that they intended to continue their protests despite pressure.
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