A balance sheet that grows heavier day after day. Started Sunday, January 2 in the provinces, the movement of anger against the rise in gas prices turned into a riot in Almaty, the largest city of Kazakhstan, killing dozens and injuring hundreds, according to a count made this week. Thursday January 6.
The country’s largest city was plagued by scenes of chaos overnight with administrative buildings and shops destroyed and then looted by protesters. Local media reported that the latter also set fire to the presidential residence, the largest administrative building in Almaty and a television station.
Total chaos that night at #Kazakhstan. Banks are stormed with construction machinery #Almaty and there are reports of numerous looting of shops. pic.twitter.com/yxFM74mRHK
– Anonymous Citizen (@AnonymeCitoyen) January 5, 2022
Originally, the protest movement began on Sunday with a sharp increase in the prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the municipality of Janaozen, then in the large regional town of Aktau, near the Caspian Sea, before winning the economic capital Almaty in the south-east of the country. This rise was seen as unfair by the Kazakhs due to the country’s numerous oil and gas resources, which led to the escalation of violence.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Wednesday that “terrorist gangs” who “received extensive training abroad” were directing the operations of the explosive protests.
An economic collapse
This violence has plunged the country into a precarious economic situation. Considered one of the world’s main producers of uranium, Kazakhstan has seen the price of this resource skyrocket.
Another popular activity in Kazakhstan: Bitcoin mining has fallen sharply in recent days, and stock prices of domestic companies have fallen sharply on the London Stock Exchange.
The internet shutdown that has raged across the country for several days has also resulted in the suspension of the work of all financial institutions in Kazakhstan.
More than 700 injured
This Thursday, according to a report put forward by local authorities on local television, 18 members of the security forces were killed and 748 people were injured since the start of the riots throughout Kazakh territory.
The Ministry of Health has for its part reported more than a thousand injured and 62 people placed in intensive care. On Thursday, police spokesman Saltanat Azirbek added “dozens” of demonstrators killed to the heavy toll that has already left the country in mourning.
Failure of emergency measures
In an attempt to calm the situation, the Head of State of Kazakhstan has nevertheless made concessions, with a drop in the price of gas, the establishment of a state of emergency and the resignation of the government.
Despite the implementation of measures such as stopping the exports of certain food products to avoid inflation, as well as the establishment of a night curfew, Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev has not succeeded in reducing the discontent. of his people.
In an effort to restore order, Russia and its allies of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) sent a “collective peacekeeping force” to Kazakhstan on Thursday. The objective is clear: to achieve “help the Kazakh security forces to stabilize the situation and restore the rule of law”.
