Separately, a local government official told an Uzbek news website that thousands of people have been treated. In a statement posted online, Mirziyoyev said rioters carried out “destructive actions” in the city of Nukus, capital of northwestern Karakalpakstan region, throwing stones, lighting fires and attacking police. “Unfortunately there are casualties among civilians and law enforcement officers,” he said. The statement did not specify the number and nature of the victims. Sultanbek Ziyayev, head of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, told the Daryo.uz news website that hospitals in Nukus were full of patients who were injured when protesters clashed with security forces. “Thousands of injured have been and are being treated,” he said, according to the website. Photos from Nukus published on Sunday by another news site, Kun.uz, show road barricades, burnt trucks and a heavy military presence, including armored personnel carriers. An Uzbek law enforcement officer guards a street in Nukus, capital of northwestern Karakalpakstan region, Uzbekistan.KUN.UZ/Handout via REUTERS Videos shared on social media showed at least two seriously injured people being carried by their arms and legs. One was bleeding from the abdomen, while the other was screaming. Another showed a young man bending over a seemingly lifeless body in the street, screaming “A man is dying,” then running for cover as gunfire rang out. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the videos. An exiled opposition politician, Pulat Akhunov, told Reuters that, based on contacts with local sources and videos, at least five people were killed. He said there were unconfirmed reports of dozens more dead. Akhunov said that people could not move and get more information because of the state of emergency imposed by the authorities. Uzbekistan is a tightly controlled former Soviet republic where the government harshly suppresses all forms of dissent. It was the second outbreak of unrest in Central Asia this year after Kazakhstan crushed mass protests in January and Russia and other former Soviet republics sent troops to help authorities restore order. The protests in Uzbekistan were sparked by planned constitutional changes that would have stripped Karakalpakstan of its autonomous status. In a U-turn, the president abandoned those plans on Saturday. Ahunov, chairman of the opposition Berlik party, told Reuters from Sweden that he condemned the use of lethal force. “The authorities, from the beginning, should have chosen dialogue and negotiations,” he said. He said he feared the situation could escalate into ethnic conflict between Uzbeks and Karakalpaks, a minority group with their own language. Authorities had called a public meeting for Tuesday to discuss the situation, he added. Kazakhstan said it was concerned about the events in Uzbekistan and welcomed the authorities’ moves to stabilize the situation. Steve Swerdlow, an Associate Professor of Human Rights at the University of Southern California and an expert on the region, said Uzbekistan should commit to being as transparent as possible about victim reporting and the use of force, and in the long term consider what concerns were at the heart of protests.
