Kazakhs Rally in Almaty Against Changes to Land Ownership

About 200 protesters gathered Saturday in Almaty for an unsanctioned rally to oppose a draft law on land ownership that they said posed a threat to Kazakh sovereignty and national security.

Rallies were planned in other cities, too, but many of the organizers abandoned the protests after authorities blocked permits to gather, citing COVID-19 risks. The Kazakh parliament’s lower chamber, the Mazhilis, earlier this month approved the first reading of a bill banning the purchase and rental of farmland by foreigners in the Central Asian nation ahead of the expiration of a moratorium on land sales this summer. The five-year moratorium was introduced in 2016 after thousands demonstrated in unprecedented rallies across the tightly controlled nation, protesting the government’s plan to attract foreign investment into the agriculture sector by opening up the market.