Nearly 40 people were injured in Almaty on July 14 in clashes between police and the residents of Shanyrak -- a settlement outside Almaty that the authorities have deemed illegal -- when at least 150 police attempted to enforce a court order for the demolition of 114 houses, Channel 31 and news agencies reported. Medical authorities in Almaty said 37 people sought treatment after the clash, including a policeman with burns over 70 percent of his body. Residents fought off police with stones and Molotov cocktails. Community activist Marzhan Aspandiyarova told Regnum that residents took three policemen hostage but later released them. Channel 31 reported that police withdrew from Shanyrak after the clash, although they have opened a criminal case and plan to use video evidence to identify the instigators of the violence. Interior Minister Baurzhan Mukhametzhanov is in Almaty to investigate the situation. The authorities recently dismantled a similar settlement in the Almaty suburb of Bakai. (regnum.ru)