Shots in the center and the return of gasoline. What is happening in Alma-Ata – RBK

The sounds of gunfire continue to be heard from the central square, the rest of the former capital of Kazakhstan are returning to normal life. What happens in Alma-Ata after several days of clashes, says the correspondent of RBC

After dark, all the last days, Kazakhstani television and radio broadcasts are interrupted to broadcast an emergency message: “An anti-terrorist operation is underway in Almaty <...> hide in a safe place, do not leave children and elderly people unattended.”

On the evening of January 7, a thick fog descended on the city, its empty streets began to look even more eerie and abandoned. From time to time, shooting began, the sounds of automatic bursts and single shots. Checkpoints were set up at the exit from Alma-Ata. The servicemen are greeted in the face with a searchlight, forced to get out of the car with their hands up, and they are checking documents. “No unnecessary movements, men. We shoot to kill, ”says one of them with a submachine gun on his chest. An armored vehicle with a machine gun on the roof rises behind him. Despite the alarming situation, the military outside the city are calm, after checking Russian passports, security officials at one of the checkpoints ask when we last ate and whether there will be enough gas for the way back.

In the morning the fog cleared away, Alma-Ata was transformed. For a few minutes, the Internet started working, shops and hotels began to accept bank cards, grocery stores opened, cars returned to the streets, and police cars began to drive normally, running around the city yesterday with roaring sirens and machine guns sticking out of windows.

Most of the burned-out cars have been removed from the city, but black marks on the asphalt and heaps of blackened wire and plastic gathered at the curbs reveal the places where the cars burned. Even the day before, there was a shortage of gasoline in the city, you had to go to the suburbs for it, stand in queues for several hours, because all gas stations within the city were looted or closed. Now the situation has changed – points have opened in the city, queues have decreased.