The lawlessness and bloodshed that erupted in Kazakhstan turned out to be an attempted coup d’etat, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Monday.

"Masquerading as spontaneous protests, a wave of mass riots unfolded when religious radicals, criminal elements, outright bandits, looters and petty hooligans emerged as if by a single command. The socio-economic, public and political demands vanished into thin air and were forgotten," the Kazakh president said at an extraordinary online session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

The Kazakh authorities heeded and fulfilled the protesters’ socio-economic, public and political demands, Tokayev said.

"Following this, a hot phase ensued and gangs of armed bandits waiting for their moment jumped into action. The main goal became obvious: to undermine the Constitutional order, take down the governing institutions and seize power. That is a coup d’etat," the Kazakh president stressed.

These nationwide riots were in the making for a long time, he said.

"As a person who knows about a full picture of the developments, I can responsibly say that all the events since the beginning of this year are links in the same chain. They are governed by a single destructive scenario that has been in the making for a long time. An investigation will reveal how long these preparations had been underway: for one year, two or three years," the president explained.

The terrorists acted with particular cruelty, Tokayev emphasized.

"These were the attacks by well-trained professionals, including snipers with special rifles. The terrorists used their own communications and disguised themselves with the uniforms of military and law-enforcement personnel," he said.

The gunmen cynically used the mass rioters as their human shields, the Kazakh leader stressed.

"Having five times the numerical advantage, the bandits attacked policemen and servicemen and beat them up with particular cruelty. They cut off the heads of two servicemen," Tokayev noted.

During their assault on military units and army checkpoints, the gangs attempted to seize weapons and combat vehicles, the Kazakh president said.

"Real battles took place in Almaty and other cities. For example, the battle for the Almaty interior department lasted two days. The police were engaged in repelling the terrorists’ attacks. In Almaty alone, seven weapons stores were captured," the head of state said.

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