A police on fire on fire during clashes with protesters in the center of Almaty, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. Demonstrators denouncing the doubling of prices for liquefied gas have clashed with police in Kazakhstan's largest city and held protests in about a dozen other cities in the country.
Local news reports said police dispersed a demonstration of about a thousand people Tuesday night in Almaty and that some demonstrators were detained.
(AP Photo / Vladimir Tretyakov)
(CNN) -
On Wednesday, riots broke out in cities across Kazakhstan, as thousands of people protested a sharp rise in the price of fuel that ended with the resignation of the Central Asian country's government.
Local media reported that protesters stormed the airport of the country's largest city, Almaty, and that a state of emergency has been established throughout the country, according to state broadcaster Khabar 24. The state of emergency will be in place. In effect until January 19, and according to the news agency, restrictions on movement, including transportation, have been introduced in the three main cities and 14 regions.
In all three cities, local administration officials were attacked, buildings were damaged and "stones, sticks, pepper spray and Molotov cocktails were used," according to a statement from the Interior Ministry.
An Almaty journalist told CNN that there was an internet outage and that lights appeared to be off in buildings near the president's residence and the mayor's office.
The Almaty airport press service told local outlet Orda.kz that there were "about 45 invaders at the airport" on Wednesday night.
"Airport employees evacuated passengers on their own," they added.
The protests were sparked when the government lifted price controls on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) earlier in the year, Reuters reported.
Many Kazakhs have converted their cars to run on this fuel due to its low cost.
Prime Minister Askar Mamin resigned amid the protests, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held a meeting on "the evolution of the difficult socio-political and socio-economic situation in the country," according to a statement posted Wednesday on the presidential website.
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Protesters and riot police in Almaty on Wednesday.
(AP Photo / Vladimir Tretyakov)
Tokayev said in a speech on national television on Wednesday that he will take control of the country's Security Council, a move that apparently bypasses his predecessor, the country's long-time president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has led the country since who was a Soviet republic until his departure in 2019, and has remained an influential but controversial figure behind the scenes and on the council ever since.
In a second televised speech, the President of Kazakhstan appealed to a military alliance formed by post-Soviet states for help after "terrorists" captured the Almaty airport, including five planes, and engaged the military on the outskirts of the city. .
According to the state news agency Kazinform, Tokayev called on the heads of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which includes Russia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, to help quell the unrest.
Tokayev said that several infrastructure facilities in the city have also been damaged.
He accused the protesters of undermining the "state system" and claimed that "many of them have received military training abroad."
Eight policemen and national guard personnel were killed in riots in different regions of the country, according to local media Tengrinews.kz.
It also said 317 officers and staff were injured, citing the press service of the Interior Ministry.
Protesters set fire to patrols during the protests.
Kazakhstan, rich in oil and the world's ninth largest nation by area, has attracted foreign investment and has maintained a strong economy since independence, but its autocratic method of government has at times raised international concern and protests have been harshly suppressed by the authorities. according to world rights groups.
The State Department's 2018 human rights report noted that the 2015 presidential elections in Kazakhstan, in which Nazarbayev received 98% of the votes cast, "were marked by irregularities and lacked any real political competition."
Alikhan Smailov was appointed acting prime minister, and members of the government will continue to serve until the formation of the new cabinet, the statement added.
A local journalist told CNN that thousands of people protested at the Almaty mayor's office on Wednesday.
"[There are] more than 10,000 people in the city administration building, which we call the Akimat. They have surrounded it," Serikzhan said.
Protesters set fire to a government building in the capital Almaty, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, January 5.
Mauletbay, deputy editor of Orda.kz., said stun grenades were used and there is "some kind of fire," according to a live Instagram video he saw from the scene.
Another journalist described the scene as chaotic and said they were able to hear and see what they believed to be stun grenades being fired and gunshots, but it is unclear what the sounds of the gunshots were.
Russia maintains close relations with Kazakhstan and relies on the Baikonur Cosmodrome as a launch base for all Russian manned space missions.
The Central Asian nation also has a significant Russian ethnic minority.
According to the CIA World Factbook, about 20% of Kazakhstan's population is ethnically Russian.
The president of Kazakhstan said that a series of measures were established aimed at "stabilizing the socio-economic situation," including government regulation of fuel prices for a period of 180 days, a moratorium on the increase in service rates. public services for the population during the same period, and the consideration of rental assistance for "vulnerable segments of the population."
On Tuesday night Tokayev said on his official Twitter that the government had decided to reduce the price of LPG in the Mangistau region to 50 tenge (US $ 0.11) per liter "to ensure stability in the country."
- Nathan Hodge contributed to this report.
Kazakhstan Protests
