DM MONITORING
NUR-SULTAN: Kazakhstan’s president sacked the Central Asian country’s cabinet Wednesday in a bid to head off unprecedented unrest across the nation that followed an energy price hike.
More than 200 people were detained during protests that swept across Kazakhstan following a new year increase in prices for liquid petroleum gas (LPG), which is widely used to fuel cars in the west of the country.
Thousands took to the streets in the largest city Almaty and in the western province of Mangystau, saying the price rise was unfair given oil and gas exporter Kazakhstan’s vast energy reserves.
Clashes erupted in Almaty, with police firing stun grenades and tear gas into a crowd of more than 5,000 people that marched through central streets shouting anti-government slogans and sometimes attacking vehicles.
The interior ministry said 95 police officers were injured, saying protesters “succumbed to provocations” and “groups of citizens blocked roads and blocked traffic, disrupting public order.”
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev moved with speed after the unrest, accepting the resignation of the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Askar Mamin. He also imposed states of emergency in Almaty, the financial capital, and Mangystau province from Jan. 5 until Jan. 19.
An overnight curfew will be in place in both territories from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., with restrictions on movement in and out of the areas. Protesters in Almaty had dispersed overnight and the streets were also quiet in the capital Nur-Sultan.
Speaking to acting cabinet members, Tokayev ordered them and provincial governors to reinstate LPG price controls and broaden them to gasoline, diesel and other “socially important” consumer goods. He also ordered the government to develop a personal bankruptcy law and consider freezing utilities’ prices and subsidising rent payments for poor families.
