Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty carries this story about angry home-owners storming the Almaty municipal building after the mayor refused to meet with them. And upon entering, the crowd joined as one and… burst into song?
They forcibly entered the municipal building and began singing the Kazakh national anthem.
The homeowners were protesting the planned demolition of their neighborhood. The area has been disignated for new development for “several years,” but the homeowners are not giving up just yet. I spent some time online looking through Kazakh-language news sources, but I couldn’t find mention of it. Any help from the commenters? RFE/RL covered the story and even published a photo of the protesters being loaded on the bus. I’d love to see what the local media says about it.
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No luck myself; although I do find it terribly interesting that in the midst of a financial crisis, the popping of the real-estate bubble, and a construction slowdown, there are still forces trying to justify eminent domain (or its local equivalent) on the basis of a need for more construction.
Almaty is overbuilt as it is, especially in the area of luxury apartments, which is seemingly all anybody builds.
Oh, and trade centers. Two more going up across the street.
I think it “old news”. I have read about a similar story last year before the “credit crunch”, probably it is the same story.