Riots in Uzbekistan/thousands of people were injured

According to IRNA on Monday, citing Reuters news agency, a local official of Uzbekistan announced that thousands of people were injured and taken to the hospital after the riots in the capital of the autonomous province of Karakalpakstan.

“Sultan Beyk Ziayev”, the head of the Ministry of Health of this region, said in an interview with the local media that the hospitals of Nukus city are full of patients who were injured in the conflict with the security forces.

Since the beginning of the protests against the separation of this region from Uzbekistan, concerns about the repression of the protesters by the security forces have increased.

The President of Uzbekistan Shaukat Mirziyoyev has rejected any secession of this region and has called the protesters malicious forces and accused them of trying to destabilize and weaken the status of this Central Asian country.

Uzbekistan has long been known as one of the most repressive republics of the former Soviet Union, cracking down on any form of dissent.

Karakalpakstan is a mostly desert region near the Aral Sea with a population of less than two million people in the 32 million country of Uzbekistan.

Polat Ahonov, an exiled opposition politician and head of the Berlik opposition party, told Reuters about the situation in his country that people are unable to move and get information due to the declaration of a state of emergency.

He also expressed his concern about the occurrence of ethnic conflict between the Uzbeks and the Qara-Qalpaks.

Ahonov, who spoke to Reuters news agency from Sweden, said: “The situation can get completely out of control, and this is not limited to Karakalpak, and the risk of conflict between Uzbeks and Karakalpaks is worse than anything else.”