PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2022) Mukhtar Ablyazov, a former Kazakh banker who has fled to France, said in an interview with Sputnik that he would continue to organize protests in Kazakhstan but promised to do it in a peaceful way.
Peaceful protests that broke out in the republic on January 2 turned into riots after Ablyazov's calls to continue them on January 3-4 when the authorities had already fulfilled the demands of people to reduce gas prices.
"We will promote, organize peaceful protests, we will mobilize people ... No, (we will not do it) violently with the use of weapons, (but) peacefully, in the way that I regularly voice," he said.
According to the Kazakh government, more than 50 state and 1,300 business facilities were damaged during the unrest earlier this month. The mayor's office was burned down in Almaty. In addition, hospitals, clinics and other healthcare facilities were attacked.
