Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 2 /Trend, E. Tariverdiyeva/
The tragic events in the Kazakh city of Almaty once again demonstrated the vulnerability of authorities in post-Soviet countries in the face of the senseless and merciless youth revolt, executive director of the North-South Political Studies Centre Alexey Vlasov told Trend.
"I would like to note that the disorders after the cancellation of the concert of a popular singer took place in a country with a population considered to be one of the most peaceful and tolerant among the former Soviet republics," Vlasov said.
However, the videos coming from the "Southern Capital" of the Republic of Kazakhstan, suggest that a crowd of young people can become an uncontrollable (or, on the contrary, directed by someone) instrument of destruction in a matter of minutes, Vlasov said.
And in this case, no youth programs and projects will help: the foolishness of the organizers, multiplied by 'crowd effect' causes a powerful destructive effect, the expert said.
"I am not a supporter of conspiracy theories, and would not search for someone else's ill-will in this event. Another thing is more scaring - if local authorities and law enforcement bodies will demonstrate a complete lack of readiness for rapid containment of spontaneous disturbances, and the organizers of mass concerts will think not about the safety of people, but how to hit the jackpot, then no one is guaranteed from the recurrence of such things," Vlasov said.
According to him, the cost of this "empty-headedness" is the health and even the lives of people.
So, what happened in Almaty should be a lesson for city authorities in Russia, Vlasov said.
Mass unrest was organized by the fans of a Kazakh pop singer Kairat Nurtas in Almaty on Saturday 31 August evening, after he cut the concert, performing only one song.
Nearly 5,000 fans of pop-music came to the Prime Plaza trade and entertainment centre in Almaty to watch Nurtas' performance. The concert did not actually take place and the musician got into his car and drove away, the audience then began smashing the centre.
According to preliminary reports, at least three people were seriously injured, and several people sustained more minor injuries.