Solidarity with Shanty town dwellers in Kazakhstan

international | rights, freedoms and repression | feature Tuesday August 22, 2006 09:46 by Shane Faherty - Socialist Party

Massive clearances planned to facilitate development have lead to bloody clashes with police.

In Kazakhstan massive slum clearances are taking place to facilitate the development of luxury apartments and leisure facilities. These homes were built by people who were made unemployed and displaced by neo-liberal policies following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now they find that in order to facilitate these policies they must once again become homeless. The CWI (Comittee for a Workers International - the International of which the Socialist Party is part) section in Kazakhstan, Socialist Resistance, is deemed to be an illegal organisation but has played an active role in organising resistance to these clearances with many of our Comrades having been arrested or injured. I have published here information received from Kazakhstan and while I have edited it to some degree to run two seperate pieces together, it is otherwise a firsthand account of the situation there. Any letters or emails that can be sent in solidarity would be greatly appreciated.

Shanyrak in flames — Appeal for Solidarity from “Socialist Resistance” Kazakhstan

For several months now, regions on the outskirts of Kazakstan's southern capital Almata have been subjected to brutal police raids aimed at removing the residents of these basically slum dwellings and leaving them with nowhere to live. The two most notorious areas are Shanyrak and Bakai.

Most of the residents of these areas worked and lived in the industrial cities of Kazakhstan until the break up of the Soviet Union. After the regime implemented its neo liberal policies of privatisation and the “closure” of “unneeded” cities, many were forced to travel to Almata in search of work. They set up their homes on unused wastelands at the city's edge. Now these areas are earmarked by the authorities for building elite homes and leisure centres.

The 14th of July saw the bloodiest clash in this battle when a well equipped police and army force attempted to terrorise the Shanyrak residents, who were armed with just stones, petrol and a desire to live.

The police entered Shanyrak like thieves in the night at 4 o'clock in the morning. The old and children begged with the police not to start the illegal operation aimed at removing their homes. But the police just ignored them and launched their terror campaign.
At 6 o'clock a squad of 60 riot police attacked Bakai, but residents succeeded in holding them off, using stones and bottles of petrol. Three riot police were very badly burned. In response the police pulled one of the defenders from his roof, threw him into a large puddle and kept him as a hostage and withdrawal of the police cordons.

Even though the residents released the police, the police did not keep their side of the bargain. Within an hour a new attack began, this time by 500 riot police, fully equipped with black helmets, shields, truncheons and guns with rubber bullets. Backed up by fire engines with water cannons — this armada banging their shields with their truncheons moved on the crowd of hundreds of youth attempting to defend their homes.

However, the defenders stood their ground and refused to back off. For ten minutes or so they took turns in throwing sticks and stones, and the occasional Molotov cocktail at the riot shields. Meanwhile, a group of another three hundred or so gathered behind the mosque and then moved on the riot police from behind. The riot police scattered in disarray allowing the residents to seize many trophies — helmets, truncheons, even shields. One fire engine that was abandoned was ceremoniously burned and the others retreated, together with the other police vehicles.

From the school the riot police again attempted to attack the crowd trying to push it back into the low ground. They used noise grenades and rubber bullets. But the defenders were able to regroup and not only force the riot police back to where they started but a further 300 or so metres behind the school. The men on the water cannons tried to use their weapons but lost control of the hoses, which started whipping around amongst their own side. The scene was full of noise, gas, smoke and flames and held high proudly above it all was a large red banner from Socialist resistance in the Kazakh language — “Zher Halitiki” (Land to the people). The older people were gathering new “ammunition” and water to put out the flames.

After a four hour battle, this heavy resistance reaped its reward in a victory for the defenders. Not only that but three riot police in full gear had been taken prisoners. The residents began work on building new barricades out of building blocks and rubbish weighed down with rocks.

The third attack by the police also failed. This time they were demoralized and disordered and a few stones quickly forced them to retreat.

This battle left many teenagers, women and elderly wounded having been attacked by truncheons and kicked by the police. But the rebels (this is what they called themselves having gone into open conflict with the state) showed humanity and understanding, quickly releasing their prisoners and allowing first aid teams to treat the wounded. The police however did not respond in kind, the officers continued to lie to the residents. One human rights activist who was in the local police office heard how the representative of the city authorities reproached the police for being too soft on the defenders.

Currently the campaign of repression against Shanyrak and Bakai continues. Over a hundred people are currently arrested having been picked up from the bus stops leading out of the region. Many had not even been in the area on bloody Friday. The arrested are being badly beaten in the stations in an attempt to make them sign confessions to having organized the uprising. None of them, including some now seriously wounded are being refused medical treatment.

A systematized campaign of repression has also been conducted against Socialist Resistance and other political activists to try and stem their support for the residents of Shanyrak and Bakai.

The situation has now reached a critical level, other residents in Almata are now preparing for attacks on their homes. We believe that the only way in which the Almatasians can defend their homes is to continue to struggle. We are attempting to help them organize and explaining our political position to them during the struggle. We appeal for solidarity and an international campaign of support against the viscous attacks of the city authorities in Kazakhstan's biggest city and also to help assist the development of our organization, “Socialist resistance”, which is assisting the residents in their struggle. We are asking for pickets to be held outside all embassies of Kazakhstan and also to send letters of protest to the following addresses:

New attacks on Shanyrak imminent — Activists and supporters arrested and harassed

The information we now have is that the state are to make a renewed attempt to evict the residents from their homes in Shanyrak this week. A detailed letter explaining the background is attached.

But in addition there has been a stepping up of harassment and repression by the state since the last attempt. The information collated by the Support Committee in Almata shows that over 120 people have been taken in by police for questioning with charges lodged against 6 — these charges range from the organization of mass disorder to hostage taking and murder. This is against the background of the violent attack by police which left 12 people seriously wounded — one women lost her unborn baby and several other have serious bullet wounds. One man is still in a coma. The police have since been attempting a cover up. The press is full of stories about the “criminal elements” who live at Shanyrak. The wounded have been refused treatment until they have agreed that they were not wounded at Shanyrak. For example Azhibekov Takhir was refused treatment at one of the city hospitals for a bullet wound in the leg until he agreed he had actually cut himself on a broken bottle.

Another case is that of Daniyar Yenikeev, a journalist on the paper “Epoxa” and a well known member of Socialist Resistance. He received bad burns on his chest when a noise grenade thrown by police blew up near him. Last week he was taken in for questioning by police, who spent three hours attempting to get him to withdraw his allegations.

Ainur Kurmanov, a leading member of Socialist Resistance has also been arrested and charged with financing and organizing an illegal organization. He has been released awaiting his trial, which could see him being imprisoned for up to ten days (Ainur has already spent five months in Kazakhstan's prisons in the mid nineties). It is clear that the state is attempting to find an excuse to level more serious charges against our organization. Some comrades have been called in and offered money and other incentives to provide information on our activities.

We are therefore asking comrades to attempt to organize some form of protests during the week and in particular, in response to any events connected to the state stepping up their attacks.

Kazakhstan doesn't have embassies in many countries (although it does have in Germany, Belgium, Poland, Britain, Austria, Greece, Israel, Holland, US, France and Malaysia). A full list of addresses and contact numbers is attached. Where possible pickets could be organized. Alternatively letters and faxes of protest could be sent directly to the embassies. We are trying to collate a short list of Kazakhstan media contacts and will distribute this in next couple of days. A press release could be sent to them expressing support. (Almost all our protests are reported in the Central Asian Press and the main opposition website Fergana.ru often has articles by us).

Please inform us of any actions on pabgem@online.ru

We are asking for pickets to be held outside all embassies of Kazakhstan and also to send letters of protest to the following addresses:

The Department of Internal Affairs of the city of Almata
Ul. Masanchi 57 A
Fax: +7 3272 54-41-95

The Office of the Mayor of Almata Imangali Tasmagambetov
Тел.: +7 3272 71 65 57 Fax: +7 3272 93 47 10
E-mail: siteprk@global.kz

Please send copies to socialism-rk@mail.ru, ainur1917@yandex.ru. All letters will be translated into Kazkh and distributed amongst the residents of Shanyrak and Bakai.

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