Residents of the Uzbek province of Karakalpakstan received SMS messages about the repeal of amendments to the Constitution relating to the region, Gazeta.uz reported , citing several local residents and mobile operators who send out such SMS.

The fact that the articles of the Constitution relating to the sovereignty of Karakalpakstan have been canceled was announced by the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev the day before. On July 3, a video appeared online showing Mirziyoyev chastising officials from Karakalpakstan, who he said did not tell him about the dissatisfaction of the residents of the province. “Constitutional reform is carried out to improve people's lives. If the people of Karakalpakstan are unhappy, not a single article will ever change,” he said.

Mirziyoyev also acknowledged that among the civilians who came out to protest, there are dead and wounded, but he did not name the exact number. Earlier, videos appeared on the network, which, among other things, showed injuries. According to Mediazona . Central Asia”, security forces used tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets during the protests.

"Mediazone. Central Asia also reports that one of the videos, which allegedly shows “flows of blood spreading through the streets of Nukus”, is not actually blood, but colored water, which the authorities used to further identify the protesters. Nowa24 reports that the Polish journalist Agnieszka Pikulicka, who posted the "bloody" video on Twitter, has apologized for spreading the fake. However, she added that "this does not change the fact that there are more and more reports of victims."

TurkmenNews editor-in-chief Ruslan Myatiev told The Insider that there are reports of "dozens" of dead. Also, citing sources, Myatiev says that the security forces who worked on the protests are not local: according to him, most of the locals were removed from the case so that they would not shoot “at their brother.”

Myatiev believes that Mirziyoyev "positions himself as a modern leader, trying to let foreign investment into Uzbekistan." “If he decided to let tanks into Karakalpakstan, it would be the end of both investments and foreign trips. That is, there were two ways: Andijan and the one that Mirziyoyev has chosen now. I think they will find a scapegoat, and Mirziyoyev will come out uninvolved. I think they've gone rogue. Naturally, this is a move when responsibility can be shifted to anyone. The leadership of Uzbekistan, I think, does not want to repeat the events of 2005 - the times of Andijan.

Over the past 24 hours, Mirziyoyev reportedly flew to the capital of Karakalpakstan twice. A state of emergency has been introduced in Karakalpakstan until August 2. The Parliament of Uzbekistan approved the relevant presidential decree.

Protests in Karakalpakstan broke out over a draft amendment to the constitution of Uzbekistan: they deprived Karakalpakstan of sovereignty and ruled out the possibility of secession from the republic. On July 1, after the arrest by unknown persons of one of the leaders of the protest, lawyer Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov, the protests entered an active phase.