Kazakhstan on Wednesday held a prominent rights activist in custody on a criminal charge for allegedly attacking police at an opposition rally, her lawyer said. Thirty-five-year-old Asya Tulesova is accused of insulting and using force against police at a rally on Saturday, her lawyer Alimzhan Oralbai told AFP. Video footage showed her knocking off a policeman's cap at the protest in the Central Asian country's main city of Almaty. If convicted, she faces up to three years in prison. On Wednesday a court decided to keep her in pre-trial detention for ten days, after which there will be another hearing to extend custody, her lawyer said. "We consider the court's decision illegal and intend to appeal it," Oralbai said. Tulesova, a long-term environmental activist, made headlines last year when she held up a banner at a marathon calling for free elections with the slogan: "You can't run from the truth". She and another activist served two-week sentences for this protest in the run-up to presidential elections after veteran strongman Nursultan Nazarbayev retired and anointed loyalist Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as his successor. In a Facebook post on Monday, Tulesova called her actions on Saturday an "emotional outburst" against "inhumane cruel and unlawful treatment by the police of peaceful unarmed citizens". She said she witnessed the detentions of elderly protesters and those who were simply passers-by. The protests were the first called by Kazakhstan's opposition since the authoritarian government began lifting virus lockdown restrictions last month. Over 100 people were detained at protests across the country which the authorities said were illegal due to restrictions on large gatherings. Tokayev has pledged to reform the state's hardline approach to freedom of assembly but critics say that a new law on public assembly passed last month has done little to change the status quo. cr/am/bp