Tag Archives: protest

Opposition timidly protests in Kazakhstan

MARCH 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Anti-government rallies in Kazakhstan are rare, making a planned demonstration in central Almaty an ideal opportunity to gauge the public’s appetite for protest.

If you blinked, you would have missed it. It felt like that, anyway.

Around two dozen protesters, out-numbered by plainclothed police, gathered under a statue of Abai, Kazakhstan’s national poet, in a square in central Almaty.

Passers-by hurried on with barely a glance at the gathering. The normally ever-present uniformed police hadn’t bothered to monitor the protest.

There was, frankly, a lack of momentum.

One of the protesters shuffled his feet and said that people were afraid to turning up because of the fear of being arrested.

Certainly the authorities in Kazakhstan don’t tolerate dissent, they arrested several bloggers last month after they protested, but, even so, this was a poor turnout.

Yerlan Kaliyev, an opposition activist acting as a figurehead, tried to inject substance into the rally by referencing Abai, the poet.

He said: “His call to be wary of rich people is more than one hundred years old but could be directly applied to the current situation in our country.”

The protesters agreed with Mr Kaliyev.

They mixed political slogans with poetry recitals for about an hour. Then they all went home.

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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Tajik workers go on strike for higher wages

MARCH 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Workers in Tajikistan building a road for a Chinese company have gone on strike after demanding higher wages, media reported. Looking to build influence in Central Asia, China has pledged to construct a series of roads and tunnels. Tension, though, flares with how Chinese companies treat their Tajik workers.

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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Student protest new credit system in Azerbaijan

FEB. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Roughly 500 students at Baku University demonstrated against a new credit system which they said was just another way of trying to increase tuition fees, media reported. According to reports, police detained 12 students. Sizeable protests against the authorities in Azerbaijan are relatively rare.

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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)

Kazakhs rally for Ukraine

FEB. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The revolution that swept Viktor Yanukovich from power in Ukraine has reverberated, gently, around the former Soviet Union.

In Almaty, the financial capital of Kazakhstan, roughly two dozen people gathered outside the Ukrainian consulate last week after news emerged that snipers had shot dozens of people in Kiev. They lit candles and sang the Ukrainian national anthem. Social media filled with statements of solidarity and posts that shared the latest news, both in Russian and in Kazakh.

Although analysts have said that the revolution in Ukraine may trigger anti-government demonstrations in other parts of the former Soviet Union, apart from the vigil outside the Ukrainian consulate in Almaty, the reaction on the streets was muted.

This was partly, said political observer Adil Nurmakov of blogbasta.kz, because most legal forms of protest in Kazakhstan had been extinguished.

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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)

Uzbekistan mutes Maidan support

FEB. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Clearly wary of any backlash, Uzbekistan’s state controlled media have avoided all mention of Ukraine’s revolution. Uzbekistan has one of the most tightly controlled media scenes in the world. Exiled opposition websites reported that, as usual, Uzbek media concentrated on reporting President Islam Karimov’s latest proclamations.

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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)

Another immolation takes place in Azerbaijan

FEB. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A 41-year-old man set himself alight in Azerbaijan, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported, the fifth self-immolation in the country since December. The man, Huseyn Mammadov, reportedly set himself alight outside the interior ministry office in Nakhchivan region after his taxi permit had been withdrawn by officials.

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(News report from Issue No. 172, published on Feb. 19 2014)

Homeowners rally against the government in Azerbaijan

FEB. 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Around 1,000 people protested in Azerbaijan against government compensation for homeowners due to lose their home as part of an urban re-generation scheme. The authorities in Azerbaijan want to demolish and re-build parts of Baku but residents say they are being offered only a fraction of the market price for their homes.

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(News report from Issue No. 172, published on Feb. 19 2014)

Prisoners go on hunger strike in Georgia

FEB. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s new power duopoly is in its infancy but unrest in the Georgian prison system has given it an early test.

Media has reported that around 1,000 prisoners in the west of the country have been on hunger strike since Feb. 7 complaining about conditions which they have described as abusive.

The government dismissed their hunger strike as being organised by criminal bosses but on Feb. 10 17 inmates apparently intensified their protest by cutting themselves.

The rather ominously named Georgian Ministry of Correction said that the prisoners had stabbed themselves multiple times in the chest and arms.

“The injured inmates received medical treatment and were brought back to the prison in a normal condition. No force was used against them by the prison administration which is fully in control of the situation,” media quoted a ministry statement as saying.

The previous administration, under former president Mikheil Saakashvili, was accused of torturing prison inmates. Now Georgia’s new PM, Irakli Garibashvili, and president, Giorgi Margvelashvili, who both took office in November, have to show that they can handle the politically sensitive issue of prison unrest more deftly.

(News report from Issue No. 171, published on Feb. 12 2014)

Uzbek police arrests Euromaidan demonstrators

JAN. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police arrested eight demonstrators in Tashkent 48 hours after they held a protest in support of the Euromaidan demonstrations in Kiev.

A court later jailed three of the protesters for 15 days and fined the others.

The story underlines Uzbekistan’s reputation as one of the most repressive countries in the world.

The demonstration may have been small but it was important as it showed the support for the Euromaidan anti-government protests in the former Soviet Union. Among those demonstrating was the relatively well-known Uzbek photographer Umida Akhmedova and her son.

The Uzbek authorities’ reaction is just as indicative.

They came down hard and fast on the demonstrators. For governments in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, the Euromaidan protest is bad news as it shows that the might of the Russia-centric leaders can be challenged.

This may have been a rare pro-Euromaidan demonstration in Central Asia but it is still important to monitor the region for any more signs of unrest. It’s extremely rare for protests in Tashkent to surface. Judging by the authorities reaction, they don’t want to see another one.

(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)

Uzbek police halts Euromaidan protest

JAN. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Tashkent arrested eight people 48 hours after they had held a protest outside the Ukrainian embassy in support of the pro-EU Euromaidan demonstrations in Kiev. A court later sentenced three of the activists to 15 days in jail.

(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)