Police detain 26 at anti-government protests in Kazakhstan

Police detained more than two dozen people on Saturday in Kazakhstan's main cities for participating in protests called by a banned opposition group where they criticised the government and Chinese expansion.

Officers detained around a dozen people and manhandled them into police vans in the centre of Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty, AFP correspondents saw.

Police said a total of 26 people were arrested in Almaty and the capital Nur-Sultan, 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) to the north.

One citizen who was detained in Almaty told journalists he opposed "Sinicization" and was "against the Chinese factories coming here." Neighbouring China is a key economic partner for Kazakhstan which has described itself as the "buckle" in Beijing's trillion-dollar Belt and Road trade and infrastructure project.

But hundreds of Kazakhs have taken to the streets in recent months to voice fears over Chinese investment in the oil-rich country.

Another protester shouted "Old man out!" in reference to Kazakhstan's 79-year-old former president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who stepped down in March but is still constitutionally designated the "Leader of the Nation."