Kazakh Cabinet resigns in a bid to appease protesters

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 05 Jan 2022 by Alex Teddy
On January 5 the Prime Minister and the entire cabinet resigned. Demonstrations have erupted in a dozen cities due to an eye watering Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) price hike. There have been over 200 arrests. LNG is used to run vehicles in the western part of the country. Protesters are irate that a country full of hydrocarbons should charge people so much for driving. Many Kazakhs do not have cars but the LNG price rise means higher bus fares and higher prices for goods because goods are delivered by truck. In Almaty over 5,000 protested. Anti-government chants alarmed the president. Some vehicles were vandalized by demonstrators. The government said that 95 police officers were injured by protesters who blocked roads. Some called for Nazarbayev to lose his position as a Leader of the Nation. A state of emergency has been proclaimed in Almaty and Mangystau Province. It will run until January 19 at least. Being outside is prohibited between 11 pm and 7 am. The government has restored order in Almaty. In Nur Sultan there were small protests but these have long since been dispersed. President Tokayev has appealed for calm and promised to address peoples' problems. He said LNG prices will be cut but this has met with skepticism. In 2020 Tokayev passed a law that made public protests easier to organize. Prior to that demonstrations were almost never allowed.The government slowed down the internet and blocked various messaging apps. This is presumably to stop the opposition from communicating. The situation is fairly tranquil. There is no sense that the government is going to be overthrown.In 2019 the entire cabinet resigned when ordered to by Nazarbayev. This assuaged public f...

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