Kazakhstan government's resignation fails to quell protests

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Reuters

January 5, 2022
5:22 AM EST
Last Updated 34 minutes ago

Asia Pacific

Kazakhstan government's resignation fails to quell protests
By Olzhas Auyezov

4 minute read

Summary
--Buildings on fire in biggest city
--President says government botched fuel price increase
--Blow to stable image of oil-producing ex-Soviet republic

ALMATY, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Protesters stormed public buildings in Kazakhstan's biggest city on Wednesday as security forces struggled to impose control after the government resigned in response to popular anger over a fuel price increase.

An Instagram live stream by a Kazakh blogger showed a fire blazing in the mayor's office in the city of Almaty, with gunshots audible nearby. Videos posted online also showed the nearby prosecutor's office burning.

Protesters appeared to have broken through security forces' cordons even though the latter deployed stun grenades whose explosions could be heard throughout the city centre.

Kazakhstan is a tightly controlled former Soviet republic which cultivates an image of political stability, helping it attract hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign investment in its oil and metals industries.

{snip}

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/kazakhstan-government-resigns-after-violent-protests-over-fuel-price-2022-01-05/

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Protesters in Kazakhstan are setting government buildings on fire. Here’s what to know.

Link to tweet

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Kazakhstan's Government Resigns Amid Unrest Over Fuel Prices

Mass protests in Kazakhstan over an increase in fuel prices have prompted the country’s authoritarian government to resign and the president to impose a state of emergency

Link to tweet

Kazakhstan’s Government Resigns Amid Unrest Over Fuel Prices
The country’s president imposed a state of emergency as he faces a crisis that threatens to destabilize the oil-rich former Soviet republic.

[Javaman]

2. I wonder if any of this is being orchestrated by moscow. nt

[Eugene]

5. Kazakhstan unrest: Government calls for Russian help

Kazakhstan unrest: Government calls for Russian help (BBC)

Russian-led military troops will be deployed to help quell anti-government demonstrations in Kazakhstan.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called for support from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) amid escalating nationwide unrest.

The protests were first sparked by rising fuel prices, but have broadened to include other political grievances.

President Tokayev claimed the unrest was the work of foreign-trained "terrorist gangs".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59880166

[cadoman]

7. so is this a Libya thing and we should root for it?

Or a Myanmar thing and we should condemn it? I'm lost.

[Eugene]

3. Report: Kazakh president's home ablaze as protests escalate

Source: Associated Press

Report: Kazakh president’s home ablaze as protests escalate

By JIM HEINTZ
57 minutes ago

MOSCOW (AP) — Protesters in Kazakhstan’s largest city stormed the presidential residence and the mayor’s office on Wednesday and set both buildings on fire, according to new reports, as demonstrations sparked by a rise in fuel prices in the Central Asian nation escalated sharply.

Police fired on some protesters at the presidential palace before fleeing. They have clashed repeatedly with demonstrators in recent days, deploying water cannons in the freezing weather, tear gas and concussion grenades.

The government resigned in response to the unrest and the president vowed to take harsh measures to quell it. In possibly the first of those efforts, Kazakh news sites became inaccessible late in the day, and the global watchdog organization Netblocks said the country was experiencing a pervasive internet blackout.

Although the protests began over a near-doubling of prices for a type of liquefied gas that is widely used as vehicle fuel, the size and rapid spread of the unrest suggest they reflect wider discontent in the country that has been under the rule of the same party since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-kazakhstan-almaty-9da42330ca51c36fe9fd88f9ef35ff4e

[Eugene]

4. Kazakhstan unrest: Internet cut amid fuel protests

Source: BBC

Kazakhstan unrest: Internet cut amid fuel protests

5 January 2022

Internet access has been cut in Kazakhstan amid mass protests sparked by rising fuel prices.

Anti-government protesters in the main city, Almaty, stormed the mayor's office on Wednesday. Part of the building appeared to be on fire.

Protests have also erupted in several other cities, with security forces using tear gas and stun grenades.

The president has promised a tough response, calling the protests a "black period" in the country's history.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59876093

[maxsolomon]

6. Important to know that Nursultan Nazarbayev, who ruled until 2019

moved the Capitol from Almaty, on the Southern Border, which is where most of the populace lives, to the charmingly named Nursultan, in the North-Central of the country.

It's a 17 hour drive from Almaty.

Much like the Myanmar Junta's capitol in Naypydaw, this was done to insulate the authoritarian government from the populace and any unrest.