Massive protests erupt in Kazakhstan

Almaty, Jan 06: Rise in fuel prices, especially LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) has resulted in massive protests across Kazakhstan. According to reports eight police and national guard troops have been killed during these protests.

 

 

 

Many cities across Kazakhstan have witnessed unrest as thousands of protesters took to streets against the sharp increase in price of LPG, which most Kazakhs use as car fuel.

The price rise came as the country ended a gradual transition to electronic trading for LPG to halt state subsidies for fuel and let the market dictate prices. 

Even though the government announced on Tuesday that fuel prices will be reduced to a level even lower than before the increase, and on Wednesday President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev sacked his cabinet, the protests are continuing.

The fuel market reform was first introduced in 2015 and came into effect at the start of the month. It sought to remove state price caps for butane and propane while making sure the local market was well supplied.

Previous subsidies had created a situation when Kazakhstan, a major oil producer, regularly faced shortages of butane and propane.

When prices were fully liberalised on January 1 (Saturday), the government expectations were that supplies to the domestic market would rise and help address the chronic shortages.

But the measure backfired, as prices nearly doubled overnight to 120 tenge per litre. The popular anger spilled over first in western Kazakhstan, an oil-rich area, over the weekend. By Tuesday, the entire country was under its grip.

The anger among the public was already running high because of rising inflation which was closing in on 9% year-on-year - the highest in more than five years - leading the central bank to raise interest rates to 9.75%. The resource-rich country of 19 million is estimated to have a million people living below the poverty line. The protests have yet to have an impact on Kazakhstan's oil production.

Demonstrators have taken control of the airport in Almaty, Kazakhstan's biggest city, news agency Reuters reported, leading to cancellation of flights.

President Tokayev said in a televised speech that foreign-trained "terrorist" gangs were seizing buildings, infrastructure and weapons, and had taken five aircraft, including foreign ones, at Almaty airport.

A Russia-led security alliance of ex-Soviet states will send peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan, Armenia's prime minister said on Thursday.

The action marks the second major move by the Kremlin in as many years to shore up an ally facing upheaval. In 2020, President Vladimir Putin stepped in to back Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko - also known as the last dictator of europe- when he cracked down on popular protests, which drew sanctions from the US and its allies.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price called Kazakhstan a “valued partner” and said the US was following the situation closely.