At least 57 arrested in Kazakh anti-government protests

MOSCOW – Authorities in Kazakhstan have detained 57 protesters taking part in unsanctioned rallies organized by an opposition movement banned by the government.

Videos posted on social media suggested the turnout was small — perhaps a few hundred demonstrators — and police vastly outnumbered those who took part in the rally.

Arrests appeared to be indiscriminate. One video showed police detaining a mother and her three children as they made their way to a shop.

At least 50 people were arrested in the run-up to Saturday’s protest as the government seeks to clamp down on dissent.

The rallies were organized by Kazakhstan’s Democratic Choice, outlawed as an extremist group.

Its leader, fugitive oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov, lives in France and is wanted in Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine for alleged embezzlement of $5 billion.