Kazakhstan forbids anti-war rallies in support of Ukraine
The authorities motivate this by the threat of violation of public safety
Kazakh authorities have banned activists from holding rallies in support of Ukraine. This is reported by the human rights group "Activists-Non-Extremists", cited by the BBC.
It is noted that on July 2, members of the opposition party "Alga Kazakhstan!" were going to hold anti-war protests on the 500th day since the beginning of Russia's military invasion of Ukraine.
However, the authorities of Astana, Almaty and three other cities refused to allow the peaceful assembly. The Astana administration justified its refusal by saying that the organizers of the rally had provided "incomplete information" in their application. Almaty authorities cited the "threat of violation of public safety" during the anti-war rally.
According to activists' estimates, the organizers of the protest received a total of 17 refusals to hold an anti-war rally on July 2.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Kazakhstanis have periodically organized anti-war protests. Activists have repeatedly organized peaceful rallies in support of Ukraine.
During the first week of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Kazakhstan remained silent, not commenting on what was happening. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev made his first and very neat statement on the matter only in March, calling on Ukraine and Russia to "find common ground at the negotiating table", citing that "a bad peace is better than a good war".
Background. This week, journalists from Radio Azattyk and the Schemes project of the Ukrainian service of Radio Liberty found out that Russian firms have arranged for the supply of Western components used in Russian weapons in the war against Ukraine from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
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