Kazakhstan declared a state of emergency in the capital city of Nur-Sultan on Wednesday as protests against fuel price increase spread across the country.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a government order for the state of emergency in Nur-Sultan as well as the city of Almaty and the oil-rich Mangystau region in the west between Jan. 5-19 to maintain public security.
A curfew will be imposed in Nur-Sultan from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Measures to protect public and strategic buildings, especially social order, will be increased. Restrictions on entry to and exit from the city will be implemented as well.
Social networks including Facebook and Telegram were blocked.
- Governor's office in Almaty stormed
In clashes with police, protesters stormed the governor's office in the southeastern city of Almaty.
Protests which continued throughout the night flared up again in midday.
Police and military vehicles were set on fire during demonstrations in Almaty. Police used stun grenades and teargas to disperse protestors who responded with stones.
The demonstrators were reportedly moving towards the presidential residence in the city.
Some 190 people were injured in protests and 40 others were taken to hospitals, according to the Public Health Department of Almaty.
- Government resigns
*Amid raging protests, Tokayev accepted the government’s resignation earlier on Wednesday.
The protests broke out when drivers staged demonstrations against the fuel price hikes in the city of Zhanaozen in Mangystau on Jan. 2, which later spread to the Aktau city in the center of the state.
Supportive protests in the western cities of Atyrau, Aktobe and Oral, where the country’s petroleum and natural gas reserves are located, spread to other corners of Kazakhstan to turn into public demonstrations.
