18 dead in Uzbekistan unrest last week: prosecutor

The state prosecutor of Uzbekistan reported on Monday that 18 people were killed amid unrest in the Karakalpakstan region last week, following protests over planned constitutional amendments impacting the territory's status.

"In (the administrative center) Nukus, 18 people died as a result of serious injuries received during massive disorders," Russian news agency Ria Novosti quoted Abror Mamatov, an official from the state prosecutor's office, as saying.

Footage appeared on social networks, shot, presumably, in #Uzbekistan, in the city of Nukus (the capital of the autonomous #Karakalpakstan). They show blood on the pavement after the demonstrations. pic.twitter.com/lXBafm9CrQ
— Newsistaan (@newsistaan) July 2, 2022

Mamatov was addressing a briefing when a National Guard representative stated that 243 individuals were hurt during the unrest, with 94 of them hospitalized.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan has since withdrawn draft constitutional amendments that would have erased the republic's constitutionally enshrined right to self-determination.

The fights are the most serious challenge to the 64-year-old's reign since he ascended to power from the role of prime minister in 2016, following the death of his long-serving mentor Islam Karimov.

Mirziyoyev returned to Karakalpakstan for the second time in two days on Sunday. He accused protest organizers of "hiding behind false slogans" and attempting to "seize local government buildings."

One more video from #Karakalpakstan according to SVTV News pic.twitter.com/2dIrQABzf3
— Agnieszka Pikulicka (@Aga_Pik) July 2, 2022

Uzbekistan's parliament decided on Monday to extend the term of public debate on the proposed constitutional law for another ten days, until July 15, according to MP Bobur Bekmurodov on Twitter.

The autonomous republic's constitutional right to secede from Uzbekistan is a relic of a post-Soviet Union deal reached between Karakalpakstan and the central authority in Tashkent.

The regime has never shown inclined to consider the possibility. One provision that will stay in the draft text allows presidents to run for seven-year periods, which will directly benefit Mirziyoyev, who defeated token opponents to gain a second five-year term in October 2021.