The fallout from the Sarsenbaev murder continues to become ever more dramatic. Today saw the first anti-government demonstration in years in Almaty, where about 1,000 protesters defied a police ban and marched on to the Respublika Square in order to commemorate the killed opposition leader. As James reported a couple of days ago, the international coverage of the Sarsenbaev affair has been quite considerable, as is the reporting about today’s protests.

Fortunately, nothing serious happened except for a couple of minor scuffles, although the authorities weren’t really trying to de-escalate the situation:

Local authorities appeared to inflame the crowd by playing loud pop music and organising a display of rally car stunt driving on a square outside the Academy of Sciences, where the opposition had said it would hold Sunday’s rally.

A rally of 1,500 people despite an official demonstration ban is quite serious news, although there have been protests in Kazakhstan before, e.g. over housing issues and the forceful relocation of Almaty residents. However, this time it’s different and people are actually chanting “Nazarbayev resign”. One is reminded of the last time the Respublika Square saw a demonstration:

Sunday’s impromptu procession to Republic Square is symbolic as it was the site 20 years ago of a protest by Kazakh students against the Soviet authorities which ended in bloodshed when police broke it up. (…) “Is this the country we wanted to build 20 years ago?” Oraz Zhandosov, another of the bloc’s leaders, asked.