ALMATY (Reuters). – Kazakh President KassymJomart Tkayev declared a state of emergency for two weeks in Almaty, the largest city in Central Asia and the western Mangistau region where violent protests broke out. His office announced Wednesday morning.

Tokayev stated that calls to attack the government or military offices were illegal in a video message he gave a few hours ago. We want dialogue and mutual trust, not conflict. “The government won’t fall.

According to Reuters, the police used stun grenades and tear gas in Almaty to keep hundreds of protestors from storming the office.

Late Tuesday night, the oil-rich country’s government declared that they would be restoring price caps on liquefied Petroleum Gas. This was after rare protests at Almaty due to a steep rise in fuel prices since the start of 2011.

Because of the price caps, many Kazakhs converted to LPG. LPG is much cheaper than gasoline. However, the government claimed that low prices were not sustainable so they lifted caps Jan. 1.

PRICE SPIKE

Following the rise in fuel prices, demonstrations with thousands of participants erupted Jan. 2, at Zhanaozen. Zhanaozen is an oil town and the site of deadly clashes between police officers and protesters 10 years ago.

Demonstrations quickly spread to the rest of Mangistau province in western Kazakhstan and the provincial center Aktau. Also, a subcontractor of Kazakhstan’s largest oil producer Tengizchevroil used Aktau camp as a work area. According to the Chevron-led venture, output was not affected.

According to video streaming from the scene, the Almaty police seemed to have taken over the main square after using flashbanggrenades. However, explosions could be heard in nearby areas and elsewhere throughout the city for several hours.

On Tuesday night, the government said it was lifting the price cap at 50 tenge (11.1 cents per litre), or half off the market price in Mangistau.

Public protests in Kazakhstan are unlawful unless the organizers have filed a notice of intent in advance.

Tokayev is the successor to Nursultan Nazarbayev, a Soviet-era Communist leader. He resigned in 2019 and faces no opposition from parliament.

He stated via Twitter (NYSE 🙂 Tuesday night that he planned to hold a cabinet meeting on Wednesday in order to hear protesters’ demands. The president urged the protestors to be responsible.