107 arrested, 16 seriously wounded in mob violence in Almaty

The police has detained 107 participants of the mob violence near Prime Plaza trade and entertainment center in Almaty, Tengrinews.kz reports. 16 people have received serious injuries in the disorder. The exact number of people with light injuries is being clarified. So many people were apprehended that the police had to take them to four different police departments. The live broadcast of Tengrinews TV from the police department of Auezov region showed that relatives of the detained almost started a fight. The relatives were outraged that police did not provide lists of the detained people and they could not find out which of the four police departments their family members were in. Relatives of the detained insist that some of the people that the police arrested were not involved in the violence. The police was literally "pooling drivers out of their cars" as they were driving on their way down the streets where there mob was, they say. Late yesterday around 2000 people gathered at the Prime Plaza for a concert where famous Kazakh pop singer Kairat Nurtas was going to perform. The people started breaking through the fencing to the stage and the singer had to leave the stage without even finishing his first song. The mod raged at the parking lot and in the mall crashing the equipment. overturning nearby cars and damaging the building. The damage to the concert equipment alone is estimated at more than 150 thousand dollars. A criminal case over Hooliganism has been initiated. This video shows Nurtas singing his song, then leaving the stage and masters of the show trying to calm the people down (by Samson Bezmyatezhniy / Youtube):