Bloody clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces appeared to have largely subsided overnight Friday, though the streets of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, remain littered with debris and burned cars that serve as a reminder of the deadly unrest that has embroiled Central Asia’s largest economy for the past week.

Almaty airport, Kazakhstan’s busiest and now under the control of Russian and Kazakh forces, was still closed to civilian aircraft, while checkpoints set up during the nationwide state of emergency hindered domestic travel via rail and road. There were long lines at gas stations and worries of food shortages in Kazakhstan’s economic hub, with many markets closed or only taking cash, the BBC reported.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had pledged to selectively restore the Internet, which has been severely disrupted since mid day Wednesday. But NetBlocks, a global Internet monitor, said that connectivity was still at about five percent of normal levels as of Saturday morning. The widespread blackout meant many Kazakh news websites were inaccessible.

The relative, edgy calm was bought at significant cost. Dozens of protesters and at least 18 members of the security forces have been killed since protests against a drastic fuel-price hike and the decrepit Kazakh political system kicked off last weekend. There were reports of bodies — only slowly being removed — on the streets of Almaty Friday.

Perhaps emboldened by the arrival of a 2,500-strong Russian-led “peacekeeping” force to prop up his government, Tokayev said Friday he had ordered his troops to “shoot to kill without warning” in an effort to crush the raging demonstrations. Earlier in the day, the Kazakh government said it had full control of all government and police buildings, some of which had been stormed by protesters earlier in the week.

The presidential order alarmed international observers and Western leaders. “The killing of police officers and others is unacceptable, the killing of demonstrators is, as well,” said Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for the United Nations Secretary General on Friday. “There is … a clear need to respect human rights and international standards while re-establishing public order.”

The State Department said late Friday that “non-emergency” staff and the families of all employees at the U.S. Consulate General in Almaty could choose to leave, citing the continued possibility of violent demonstrations developing without warning.

Tokayev on Wednesday called on the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization to intervene in Kazakhstan, marking the first time that the group of six former Soviet states has dispatched military forces in response to domestic unrest. Tokayev and CSTO allies, such as Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, have sought to portray protesters as foreign-funded “terrorists,” though there is no substantive evidence to back the claim.