We have collected data on protests in Uzbekistan since 2018. The current events in #Karakalpakstan are significantly different from other examples of protest in the country in recent years
SCALE: The scale of the protests are the largest in the country's recent history. Our data on 266 protests in Uzbekistan between 2018 and June 2021 showed an average of 38 protesters at each event, with a maximum of 1,000 oxussociety.org/projects/prote…
The current protests appear to be much larger, with reports of tens of thousands taking to the streets: 
https://twitter.com/MaitanovAzamat/status/1543193345698238465
ISSUE: Most protests in our data are linked to issues such as urban redevelopment, utilities, access to land and labor issues. In other words, these were mostly local issues related to people's daily lives oxussociety.org/covid-19-worke…
In Karakalpakstan, protests target the central government and are directly related to the political issue of the region's autonomy being undermined by proposed constitutional amendments: aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/2/…
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE: Our data showed that in the past, the government was quite responsive to protesters, offering concessions in 46% of cases and using violent means in 4% oxussociety.org/covid-19-worke…
In Karakalpakstan, although the government has scrapped the proposed constitutional amendments, it has also used brutal means, with information on the number of deaths and injuries difficult to obtain due to the government-imposed information blackout eurasianet.org/uzbekistan-unr…
This brutality echoes previous massacres of protesters in Andijon in 2005 hrw.org/legacy/campaig…
Let's hope that the government uses restraint and that it gives the people of Karakalpakstan the autonomy they desire.
This video shows the scale of the protests in Nukus
https://twitter.com/Aga_Pik/status/1543338419757146115?t=aIxb4oomSviKqTD8dS9F1w&s=19
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