Kazakhstan president’s residence reportedly ablaze amid protests over gas costs – Nationwide

The presidential residence in Kazakhstan’s largest metropolis was engulfed in flames on Wednesday and armed protesters stormed one other authorities constructing, in keeping with information stories, as demonstrations sparked by an increase in gas costs escalated sharply.

In response to the protests, the federal government resigned and the president vowed to take harsh measures to quell the unrest. Late within the day, Kazakh information websites turned inaccessible, and the worldwide watchdog group Netblocks stated the nation was experiencing a pervasive web blackout.

However Russia’s Tass information company reported from Kazakhstan that the presidential residence in Almaty, the place 1000’s of demonstrators had gathered outdoors, was on hearth and that the town’s primary administration constructing that features the mayor’s workplace was burning from high to backside hours after demonstrators broke in.

Lots of the demonstrators who converged on the mayoral workplace carried golf equipment and shields, in keeping with earlier stories in Kazakh media.

The protests started Sunday in Zhanaozen, a metropolis within the west the place resentment of the federal government was sturdy within the wake of a 2011 oil-worker strike wherein police fatally shot no less than 15 folks. They unfold throughout the nation within the following days and on Tuesday giant demonstrations broke out within the capital, Nur-Sultan, and in Almaty, the nation’s largest metropolis and former capital.

Though the protests started over a near-doubling of costs for liquefied gasoline that’s extensively used as car gas, the scale and speedy unfold of the unrest counsel they mirror wider discontent within the nation that has been below the rule of the identical social gathering since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

The protests seem to don’t have any identifiable chief or calls for.

In a televised assertion to the nation on Wednesday, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stated that “we intend to behave with most severity relating to law-breakers.” Police have tried to show again demonstrators with water cannon within the freezing climate, tear gasoline and concussion grenades.

Tokayev stated police have died in clashes with demonstrators, however there have been no fast casualty figures for police or civilians.

Within the assertion, he additionally promised to make political reforms and introduced that he was assuming the management of the nationwide safety council. The latter is probably important as a result of the council had been headed by Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was president from 1991 till he resigned in 2019.

Nazarbayev dominated Kazakhstan’s politics and his rule was marked by a reasonable cult of persona. Critics say he successfully instituted a clan system in authorities.

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After the demonstrations unfold to Almaty and the capital, the federal government introduced its resignation, however Tokayev stated the ministers would stay of their roles till a brand new Cupboard is shaped, making it unsure whether or not the resignation can have important impact.

Tokayev has declared a two-week state of emergency for each the capital and Almaty, imposing an in a single day curfew and proscribing motion into and across the cities.

Initially of the 12 months, costs for liquefied gasoline roughly doubled as the federal government moved away from worth controls. Though Kazakhstan has in depth gasoline and oil reserves and mineral wealth, discontent over poor dwelling circumstances is powerful in some components of the nation. Many Kazakhs additionally chafe on the dominance of the ruling social gathering, which holds greater than 80% of the seats in parliament.