Kazakhs rally against car ban in rare protest
Source: Reuters
ALMATY, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Kazakhs waved banners, shouted "Freedom of choice!" and briefly scuffled with police on Sunday in a rare public outcry against state policies -- but this time the rally had little to do with politics. It was a government plan to ban cars with right-hand steering wheels that led dozens of protesters to defy strict rules on public gathering and rally in the commercial capital as temperatures plunged to -10 Celsius (14 Fahrenheit). Public protests are rare in the Central Asian nation where the opposition is weak, and media never criticise President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his policies. Nazarbayev's re-election in 2005 in a vote condemned as flawed by Western observers, and the murder of two opposition leaders over the past year have caused little public debate. But the proposed ban sparked an unexpected wave of criticism although most Kazakhs drive cars with left-hand steering wheels. Protesters massed on one of Almaty's icy streets with banners reading "Green right to the right steering wheel!" and yelled "We don't agree!". Police formed a chain and pushed them away, causing brief scuffles. Two protesters were arrested, and the crowd dispersed. "We want to show we disagree. We have our constitutional right of choice," Sanzhar Bokayev, the organiser of the movement, said before police dragged him away to a bus. A similar but smaller protest took place in the capital, Astana. Right-hand cars are a touchy issue for many Kazakhs who own second-hand cars imported from Japan. The government thinks they cause too many road accidents and wants to ban them altogether.
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