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Emergency Declared as Kyrgyz Gold Mine Protest Turns Violent

© Sputnik / Alexey Druzhinin / Go to the mediabankKyrgyzstan's President Almazbek Atambayev
Kyrgyzstan's President Almazbek Atambayev - Sputnik International
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Kyrgyzstan's President Almazbek Atambayev declared a state of emergency in a district in the north of the country on Friday after protests at the nation’s biggest gold mine turned into violent riots, with dozens injured.

BISHKEK, May 31 (RIA Novosti) – Kyrgyzstan's President Almazbek Atambayev declared a state of emergency in a district in the north of the country on Friday after protests at the nation’s biggest gold mine turned into violent riots, with dozens injured.

A total of 55 people, 13 of them police, were injured on Friday when protesters clashed with police near the huge Kumtor gold mine in northern Kyrgyzstan, which is run by Canada’s Centerra Gold, local health officials said.

 Five police and three protesters have been hospitalized, a spokesman said. Kyrgyzstan Defense Ministry forces have been deployed to maintain security in critical areas, a ministry spokesman said.

Local health officials have not confirmed reports that some people suffered gunshot injuries during the protest.  

At least one protester died, 24.kg reported, quoting a protester. Police used firearms and tear gas to disperse the crowd as protesters threw stones, the report said earlier on Friday. That information has not been confirmed by the country’s police.

President Atambayev said the protest “threatens the republic’s national security and has significantly damaged the country’s economy,” adding the resultant losses to the state’s revenues could be up to $125 million. He also claimed the stoppage of work at the mine due to the protest could “cause a serious environmental catastrophe” at the site.

The protesters are demanding a bigger share of the profits from the country's most lucrative gold mine and more investment in local infrastructure.

Earlier this week, several hundred protesters blocked the road leading to Kumtor, in Issyk Kul Province, north of the border with China, and cut electricity to the mine. Power was restored to the site earlier on Friday. Several dozen protesters have been arrested, local media said citing officials.

“All the organizers of the unrest will be strictly punished in line with the law,” Atambayev warned. Kyrgyz Vice Prime Minister Shamil Atahanov is currently holding talks with the protesters.

The Canadian-run gold mine, which the Kyrgyzstan government has previously accused of causing environmental damage and tax evasion, has denied those allegations and said it has paid $1.2 billion in taxes since its foundation in 1994 and directly invests money into the community.

Kumtor is the largest gold mine in Central Asia and produced more than 8.4 million ounces of gold between 1997 and the end of 2011, according to Centerra's website. Under a 2009 agreement, the Kyrgyzstan government acquired one-third of Centerra.

Centerra’s subsidiary, Kumtor Operating Company, is the largest revenue earner for the Kyrgyzstan budget, and accounted for 12 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s GDP and over half its industrial output in 2011, according to government statistics.

Last year, those figures dropped to 6.6 percent and 37.9 percent, respectively, due to damaging work stoppages at the mine, which dragged down the entire economy.

Updates injuries in para 2, adds paras 3-5.

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