The President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Zhokart Tokayev, signed a decree on the introduction of a state of emergency in the country's largest city, Almaty and the Mangistau region, from which gas protests began. This was reported on the president's website.
The state of emergency will last 1:30 on January 5 (22:30 Moscow time) until January 19. The Kazakh authorities motivate this decision by “ensuring public safety, restoring law and order, protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens”.
With the introduction of the state of emergency in Kazakhstan:
- Almaty is now controlled by the commandant's office headed by the chief of police Taymerdenov
- In emergency zones, there is a curfew from 23.00 to 7.00
- Sale of weapons, ammunition and alcohol is prohibited. The existing «trunks» from the population will be confiscated
- The protection of public order and strategic facilities is being strengthened
- Freedom of movement is limited
- Document checks and personal searches are introduced
- Entry and exit from the emergency zone is limited
- Any mass gatherings (including funerals and weddings)
- Communication is limited
More about the state of emergency in Kazakhstan
On the night of January 4-5, protests over gas prices in the country resulted in large-scale clashes between citizens and security officials in Almaty. People gathered on Republic Square, from where the security forces drove them out with flash-noise grenades and tear gas. In response, the protesters began to smash and set fire to police cars. At least one of them exploded.
Videos of eyewitnesses from Almaty with whole columns of set fire to police cars appear on social networks. According to Vlast, hundreds of protesters in the night are returning to Republic Square in Almaty, from where they had previously been pushed back by the police. Military equipment has already been introduced into the city, flash-noise grenades continue to explode.
In the evening of January 4, President Tokayev addressed the nation in Russian and in Kazakh against the backdrop of fuel protests that have been going on across the country for three days and are turning into violent clashes. He called on citizens, especially young people, not to succumb to «provocations» and not to go to conflict. «Power will not fall,» he stressed separately. At the same time, the first serious clashes with the use of grenades and gas began in Almaty.
At the moment, the Internet is almost completely disconnected in the country. Thousands of people in different cities of the country are demanding to reduce the price of liquefied gas, which in Kazakhstan, the majority of the population fills up cars, to 50 tenge per liter, to solve the problem of unemployment and reduce food prices. Activists were detained and arrested in Almaty and other cities of the country. Citizens called on the country's first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, to leave politics.