Almaty: More than 5,000 people have been arrested in Kazakhstan for riots that have shaken the largest country in Central Asia in the last week, Kazakh authorities are quoted on Sunday.
In total, 5,135 people have been detained because they were questioned as part of 125 separate investigations into riots, according to the Interior Ministry quoted by local media.
Energy-rich countries around 19 million people have been rocked by riots a week with dozens of dead.
Fuel prices rose triggering riots a week ago in the western provincial area but they quickly reached the big cities, including economic almaty hubs, where riots erupted and police fired using Live Round.
The Interior Ministry, quoted weeks by local media, said the initial estimate of properties was around 175 million euros ($ 198 million).
More than 100 businesses and banks were attacked and looted and more than 400 vehicles were destroyed, the ministry was quoted.
“Today the situation is stabilized in all regions of the country,” said Minister of Home Affairs Erlan Turgumbayev, added that “counter-terror surgery continued efforts to establish a order in the country.” Relatively calmly appeared to return to Almaty, with the police sometimes fired a shot into the air to stop people approaching the town square, said an AFP correspondent on Saturday.