Thousands of people have been hospitalized after riots in the capital of Uzbekistan’s autonomous Karakalpakstan province, the Daryo.uz news website reported on Sunday, citing a local official, as reported by Reuters.
He cited Sultanbek Ziyayev, head of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, who said that hospitals in the city of Nukus were full of patients who had been injured when protesters clashed with security forces. “Thousands of injured have been and are being treated,” he said, according to the website.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said today that there were casualties among civilians and police officers following the riots, Russian news agencies reported.
Mirziyoyev’s comments came a day after he abandoned plans to overturn the province’s autonomy following a rare public protest.
An 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.
Akhunov said people could not move 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 harshly suppresses all forms of dissent. It was the second outbreak of unrest in Central Asia this year after Kazakhstan cracked down on 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 its autonomous status.
The revision mainly stipulated that the republic of 2 million people would lose its “sovereign” status and the right to hold a referendum on self-determination.
Spontaneous protests are very rare – and also illegal – in Uzbekistan, an authoritarian country that is the most populous of the former Soviet republics in central Asia, with about 35 million people.
Yesterday Saturday the Uzbek authorities announced that they made a series of arrests, the day after the anti-government mass mobilization.
“A group consisting of rioters and people who resisted law enforcement forces have been arrested,” the parliament, government and police in the republic of Karakalpakstan said in a statement.
According to the text, the suspects were trying to occupy public buildings in the demonstration in the capital Nukus.
Yesterday Saturday, the press office of the presidency announced that Mr. Mirziyoyev had a meeting with the deputies of Karakalpakstan and that all the articles of the Constitution concerning this autonomous republic will remain as they are, “on the basis (…) of the views expressed expressed by the people of Karakalpakstan”.
Zafkat Mirziyoyev, who took power in 2016 – following the death of his predecessor, Islam Karimov – has been credited with sweeping economic and social reforms. However, after being re-elected last year, he is accused of taking a new authoritarian turn.
With the planned revision of the Constitution, the duration of the presidential term would increase from five to seven years, which also concerned the current head of state.
The country’s economic openness has curbed a succession of crises, from the novel coronavirus pandemic to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, a key partner of Uzbekistan.
Karakalpakstan is associated with the drying up of the Aral Sea, one of the world’s worst man-made environmental disasters.
Source: Capital
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