Police fired tear gas and stun explosives in a proposal to break up an extraordinary thousands-strong march in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s biggest city, after demonstrations that began over gas rates intimidated to spiral unmanageable.
The police opened up fire after the protesters refused to distribute, 2 AFP reporters reported, estimating there were more than 5,000 protesters present.
Carrier apps Telegram, Signal as well as Whatsapp were down in Kazakhstan late on Tuesday as thousands took to the roads in cities across the oil-rich nation to voice discontent over rates and also the government.
Objections were staged in cities in the country from Sunday, beginning with the western community of Zhanaozen, where 16 individuals died after government pressures put down an oil strike in 2011.
The preliminary cause of the objection was a spike in prices for pressed gas in the country’s western energy heartland but a government move to lower the rates in line with the militants’ needs has failed to soothe them.
Head of state Kassym-Jomart Tokayev tweeted late on Tuesday that authorities had actually taken a choice to reduced costs for Liquified Petroeum Gas in the Western Mangystau area “in order to ensure stability in the country.”
