In Kazakhstan, the protests, which have been going on since Sunday, are even bigger on Wednesday. And this, despite the decision of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to dismiss the government and above all to satisfy the protesters’ demand to reduce the price of compressed natural gas, the price of which had doubled on January 1. But nothing helps, the protest spreads across the country, expresses political demands and becomes more violent.
with our regional correspondent, Régis Genté
Russia calls for “dialogue”, and not for “riots” in this former Soviet republic. Because from this Wednesday morning, the Kazakhstanis gathered in the squares of the big cities of the country despite the decline of the government. And this after a tense night everywhere, as in Almaty the economic capital, or Aktau, in the oil west, on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
Very quickly, crowds of several thousand people besieged the akimat, the seats of local governments, appointed by the central power. This was the case in Aktobe, an oil town in western Kazakhstan, and in Almaty, the country’s economic capital, where a fire broke out in part of the building.
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In other towns like Aktau, Atyrau, Chymket, the police defended these buildings with tear gas and stun grenades.
These scenes are quite unusual, in this very authoritarian former Soviet republic, of 18 million inhabitants, especially as President Tokayev declared there yesterday a state of emergency and a curfew.
It is power that is targeted, in particular that of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who still heads the country at the head of the National Security Council.
All Tuesday, across Kazakhstan, demonstrators shouted in unison: ” Shal, ket! (“Old man, go away!”).
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