The mayor of Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, has held an emergency meeting of law-enforcement agencies in response to a riot at a shopping mall.
Mayor Ahmetzhan Yesimov convened the September 1 meeting after about 165 people were detained by police during a riot the previous night provoked by the cancelation of a concert by popular singer Kairat Nurtas.
Rioters threw stones and bottles at the stage before proceeding to damage vehicles in the mall's parking lot.
A spokesman for the Almaty prosecutor's office told journalists that the concert was canceled because organizers did not have permission to hold it.
He added that police acted appropriately in response to the violence.
A criminal investigation into charges of hooliganism has been launched.
Mayor Ahmetzhan Yesimov convened the September 1 meeting after about 165 people were detained by police during a riot the previous night provoked by the cancelation of a concert by popular singer Kairat Nurtas.
Rioters threw stones and bottles at the stage before proceeding to damage vehicles in the mall's parking lot.
A spokesman for the Almaty prosecutor's office told journalists that the concert was canceled because organizers did not have permission to hold it.
He added that police acted appropriately in response to the violence.
A criminal investigation into charges of hooliganism has been launched.
