Protesters storm mayor’s office in Kazakhstan’s biggest city – report

ALMATY, Kazakhstan – Protesters armed with clubs and metal bars stormed into the mayor’s office of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s biggest city, local news website Zakon.kz reported on Wednesday, January 5.

Videos posted online showed a crowd gathering outside the building amid smoke and stun grenade explosions.

Protests raged for a second day in the oil-rich Central Asian nation, triggered by a surge in car fuel prices. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has declared a state of emergency in the city and accepted the government’s resignation.

An Instagram live stream by a Kazakh blogger showed a fire blazing in the mayor’s office, and gunshots could be heard nearby.

The building in Almaty was surrounded by protesters who appeared to have broken through security forces’ cordons even though the latter deployed stun grenades whose explosions could be heard throughout the city center.

Protests began in the west of the former Soviet republic on Sunday over fuel price increases, leading to the resignation of the government earlier on Wednesday. – Rappler.com