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Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Almaty: gas protests in Kazakhstan did not stop even after the authorities promised to significantly reduce fuel prices for one of the country’s regions. The government went to meet the protesters, but this increased the discontent of the Kazakhs.
This is reported by UA.
Clashes with the police, detention of demonstrators, mass rallies have not stopped in Kazakhstan for the third day. And in one of the cities of the Mangistau region, the protesters tried to take the state administration by storm.
The reason for the protest was the increase in prices for liquefied gas from January 1.
“We are talking about a price increase of 20 tenge per liter. The average family car drives 1,000 km a month. With a consumption of 10-12 liters per hundred, this is about 14-15 thousand tenge per month once a year for one family for fuel. This is a small amount relative to average wages. An increase of 15-20 tenge is about 2,000 tenge per month. We pay more for the Internet” – commented Olzhas Baidildinov, an expert at the Ministry of Economy of Kazakhstan.
Already on January 2, thousands of rallies took to the streets of the cities of Zhanaozen and Aktau demanding to reduce the cost of gas. A day later, the protest spread to all regions. On the streets of dozens of cities there are calls, in particular, for the resignation of the government.
A government commission arrived in Aktau to negotiate with the protesters. The activists were promised that the price of fuel for the region would remain the same, but the agreement only increased discontent in cities in other regions. For example, in the capital Nur-Sultan, several dozen people went to a demonstration with a similar demand.
Tomorrow, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is to hold a meeting on the socio-economic situation in the country, the presidential press service reported.
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