Kazakh President Qasym Zhomart Tokayev has said his government will not fall, as protests in some major cities turned violent and a crowd tried to storm the mayor's office in the Central Asian nation's biggest city.
"Calls to attack government and military offices are absolutely illegal," Tokayev said in a video address on Tuesday.
Many Kazakhs have converted their cars to run on LPG, long far cheaper than gasoline as a vehicle fuel in Kazakhstan because of price caps. But the government argued that the low price was unsustainable and lifted the caps on January 1. After the price of the fuel spiked, rallies involving thousands of people erupted on January 2 in the town of Zhanaozen, an oil hub and site of deadly clashes between protesters and police a decade ago.
Demonstrations spread to other parts of surrounding Mangistau province and western Kazakhstan, including provincial centre Aktau and a worker camp used by sub-contractors of Kazakhstan's biggest oil producer, Tengizchevroil. In Almaty, police cordoned off the main square on Monday and Tuesday, and local media reported that dozens of people were detained late on Tuesday as protesters blocked a busy street.
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