Russian original of below article:
http://zonakz.net/articles/?artid=14425

First Shanyrak, Now Bakai

the Russian sign above the hunger strikers reads: "we ask that our land plots be legalized" (The country is bilingual: Russian & Kazakh being the official languages)


Thanks to the initiative of Ak Zhol party activist B. Nurmuhamedov, a round table discussion was scheduled to take place today at the Kazakhstan Hotel. The discussion topic was to be "The problems of interaction between Individual, Society and the State in Kazakhstan, given the recent example of the Shanyrak shantytown community standoff" (outskirts of Almaty). Invited participants include Almaty's akim (mayor, generally "chief official;" pronounced like "akeem") Imangali Tasmagambetov, Auezovskiy district akim, city maslikhat (council) delegates and Mazhilis (lower house) and Senate delegates elected by the southern capitol (Almaty). However, none of the officials from the executive or representative authorities showed up to the meeting, despite the presence of numerous political scientists, representatives from political parties Alga and Ak Zhol and the actual residents of the shantytown communities currently being demolished or scheduled for demolition. Realising that the scheduled event was practically ruined, a number of participants and journalists decided to go to the Bakai community, which rose up along the highway that leads to the airport close to the Vaz bus stop — as of this morning, Bakai buildings considered to be built illegally were scheduled for demolition.

At 11:30am we arrived to discover improvised barricades, consisting of stones and numerous car tires topped with bottles with cloth fuses; ditches and moats dug across the roads that lead to the Bakai community; young community residents squatting behind the improvised structures, waiting for a signal. As we approach another part of this shantytown/squatter community of more than 500 buildings we see the local community center ("headquarters") with the Kazakh flag flying at the top. 7 people have been on a hunger strike inside this building for five days. The hand-formed brick walls of this building are covered with banners, demanding the cancelation of demolition, and photocopies of the telegrams sent to President Nursultan Nazarbayev which inform him about the initiation of the hunger strike. At 11:40am an ambulance crew arrived, saying that they weren't able to get to Bakai for several hours because of numerous police checkpoints.

The road that leads to the community center is lined with a human chain made up of around 50 children, women and elderly holding flags and portraits of President Nazarbayev. The road itself is filled by police buses, tractors/bulldozers and fire engines. The nearby training session of elite youth on an ideal football field cordoned off by a metal wall was quite a contrast to this scene.

At 12 noon someone yelled that the police and court order inforcement officials are attacking the village from the other side. At this point groups of young people and out-of-towner members of the Opposition press ran in the direction where the alleged demolition was taking place.

At first, a group of 70 police officers from the Turksibskiy RUVD (District branch of a domestic security authority), surrounded the home of the latest victims and began to push protesters, who in turn were trying to break through, away from the building. The several women and men dug-in inside this house began to yell, demanding the cancelation of the demolition, and to push court officials and cops away from the doors. At this point sticks came into use, windows were smashed and through the broken windows police officers were splashed with gasoline.

The standoff was escalating. By 1pm a full police batallion was onsite engaged in forcing rows of Bakai residents and other protesters away from the surrounded building. The main group of protesters that numbered around 200 ended up encircled in something like a layered cake of police, as more reinforcements arrived. Eye witnesses counted around 300 police officers on the scene by now. 10-15 minutes later they were joined by a group of 60 OMON (special militarized police troops kept from Soviet times) guys in full gear. Despite the odds being in favor of the authorities, the young men and boys were able to stonethrow a bulldozer into quickly withdrawing.

By 1:30pm various groups of "bakaivzci" were breaking through the police line and reaching the bus which contained the illfated home's residents and Salim Orazalinov, a Zher Ana activist. Shortly after, around 10 young men and women laid down in front of the bus, trying to prevent it from leaving, but were dragged off to the side by the OMON troops. Non of this escaped the attention of the domestic and foreign press present at the event. Marzhan Aspardiyarova, one of the ZSK leaders, gave numerous interviews defending the residents of the Bakai community.

After the police and their demolition crews retreated, around 2pm, 150 people participated in a public meeting near the community center. They decided to continue the struggle. Activists from the local initiative group of the Shanyrayoo shantytown community expressed solidarity with their brothers. Democratic opposition activists called on the Bakai residents to attend the April 26, 2006 action to commemorate Sarsenbayev (Opposition official critical of Nazarbayev, killed in "suspicious circumstances" { BBC in February 2006: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4712674.stm } ).

The current exercise of power, initiated by city authorities around 9am in this morning, seems to have failed. Today's events, covered by mass media, are in the end a public relations disaster and a moral loss for the akimat (mayor's office). Partially the result of the akimat's decisions, we're currently witnessing a rising people's movement in the outskirts of Almaty which is becoming sharply politicized, as the current situation shows. At the same time, our society's ruling groups and their representatives give off the impression that they've failed to fully comprehend the potential consequences of their decisions. The authorities' harsh tactics towards more than 10 of Almaty's shantytown communities and their residents are ultimately doomed.

The sign above the door reads "we're on hunger strike for our land:"