The President of Kazakhstan today accepted the resignation of his government and declared a state of emergency in parts of the country.
The police announced that he arrested more than 200 protesters and that almost 100 police officers were injured in the demonstrations made against gas prices, which caused disruption to several cities in the country of Central Asia.
The protests, which included thousands of people protesting by throwing flash bombs and tear gas overnight in Almaty, the financial capital of Kazakhstan, rare phenomenon in Kazakhstan.
The interior ministry said more than 200 protesters had been arrested for “disturbing public order” and that 95 police officers had been injured.
Kazakhstan protestors are trying to seize the presidential complex in Almaty
Guess government’s resignation really didn’t work
— Ragip Soylu (@ragipsoylu) January 5, 2022
Protesters “challenged” by blocking roads and traffic, “disrupting public order”, the interior ministry said in a statement.
Earlier in the night, the president Kasim-Jomart Tokayev accepted the resignation of the government. The Deputy Prime Minister Alihan Smailov will take over as caretaker Prime Minister until a new government is formed.
A state of emergency was also declared until January 19 in the Mangistau area, where the protests began, and in the Almaty area, where a curfew will take effect from 23:00 to 07:00 local time.
A few hours earlier, Tokayev had addressed the crowd with a video posted on Facebook, in which he called for calm to return.
“We do not need the conflict,” he said, after earlier warning protesters to refrain from any “provocation”.
Shots were fired near the mayor’s office in Almaty
A fire broke out in the office of the mayor of Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, according to images posted live on Instagram by a blogger in Kazakhstan, and shots were heard nearby.
The town hall building in Almaty has been surrounded by protesters who appear to have managed to break through the security perimeter set up by police forces despite the flash bombs they dropped. Explosions from flash-bombs were heard throughout the city center.
Protests erupted in the western part of the former Soviet republic on Sunday over rising fuel prices and led to the resignation of the government earlier today.
“The old man is out!”
Angry demonstrations erupted the following Sunday from rising liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices in the city of Janaozen, in the western part of the country, and then expanded to the large regional city of Aktau and then to Almaty.
The government initially tried to reassure protesters, unsuccessfully, by accepting a reduction in the price of liquefied natural gas, setting the price per liter at 50 tenge (0.1 euros) in the area, up from 120 at the beginning of the year.
In Almaty, AFP reporters saw police dispersing a crowd of 5,000 people last night with stun grenades and tear gas.
Protesters, some of whom attacked cars, chanted anti-government slogans such as “Resign the government!” and “The old man is out!”. referring to former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the current leader’s mentor and a person who still wields considerable influence.
The popular social networking platforms WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal were currently unavailable in Kazakhstan, and the websites of two independent media outlets appear to be blocked.
Television also reported today that the director of a gas processing plant and another official had been arrested in the Mangistau area of ​​Janaozen.
They are accused of “unnecessarily raising the price of gas”, a fact which “caused mass mobilizations across the country”, according to this source.
Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s largest economy, used to double-digit growth figures in the past, is suffering from falling oil prices and the economic crisis in Russia, which has led to a tenge devaluation and high inflation.
The Mangistau region is dependent on liquefied natural gas, which is the main fuel for cars, and any increase in its price causes an increase in the price of food products, which has already risen since the outbreak of the new coronavirus.
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