Kazakhstan’s President Qasim-Yomart Tokayev said today that he’s head of the powerful Security Council to replace veteran former leader Nursultan Nazarbayev and vowed to respond “with the utmost severity” to protests sparked by rising tensions.
Anti-government protesters in Kazakhstan’s main city, Almaty, stormed the mayor’s office for a second day of protests over fuel prices.
Thousands took to the streets on Wednesday despite a state of emergency in some areas.
On Tuesday, the president fired the government and said lower fuel prices would be restored.
Demonstrations are rare in the oil-rich former Soviet state, which is tightly controlled by the government.
In Almaty, the police launched crack-flashed grenades and tear gas against a plurality of many thousands of protesters, but he did not prevent them from entering the Mayor’s office, says the French agency.
A video on social media showed a pile of smoke rising from the building, while shots were heard.
City police chief Kanat Taimerdenov said “extremists and radicals” had attacked 500 civilians and looted hundreds of businesses.
There are also reports that crowds have gathered near official buildings in other cities and Internet services appear to have been turned off across the country.
In a televised address, Tokayev said he would immediately take over the helm of the Security Council, a role through which Nazarbayev continued to wield considerable influence following his unexpected resignation in 2019.
Tokayev did not name Nazarbayev. The 81-year-old former president has not appeared or spoken publicly since the beginning of the protests, which earlier today forced Tokayev to accept the resignation of his government.
Tensions rise in Semei, as protesters attempting to break police cordon near administration building
Semei is the city in Eastern Kazakhstan, just on the border with Russia(some 30kms)
https://t.co/N0rw19VWE9 pic.twitter.com/dcF7D3giD5— Liveuamap (@Liveuamap) January 5, 2022
Reuters notes that the move appears to signal the final ouster of Nazarbayev, a former Communist Party leader who ruled as undisputed president for almost three decades after Kazakhstan gained its independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Will Russia invade Ukraine after the Protests that are currently taking place in Kazakhstan? The question is relevant and Putin is facing the same problems as Kazakhstan government’s officials are facing. Butterfly theory may work as well as in Kazakhstan and Ukraine it works:) pic.twitter.com/uZ3duYrT8g
— Andriy Zilli (@andriy_zilli) January 5, 2022
It is unclear whether this will satisfy the protesters, some of whom were heard shouting “Old man out!”, A traditional anti-Nazarbayev slogan.
Tokayev had earlier ousted Nazarbayev’s nephew from his second position in the State Security Committee, the successor to the Soviet KGB.
Protestors clash with the police in #Kostanay city in #Kazakhstan‘s north, just a few dozen miles from #Russia‘s border: pic.twitter.com/XOK6hrOLPq
– Sergej Sumlenny (@sumlenny) January 5, 2022
With information from BBC
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