Kazakhstan struggles to quell deadly protests

Demonstrators faced off with troops in the main square of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, for the third day on Thursday. Earlier on Wednesday, protesters targeted the city’s airport and set the presidential residence and the mayor’s office on fire. Police spokeswoman Saltanat Azirbek said officers killed dozens of people during the attacks on government buildings. The Interior Ministry said 12 police officers and national guard members have died, while 353 others sustained injuries.

What sparked the unrest? The protests began Sunday in the western city of Zhanaozen over a near-double increase in the price of some vehicle fuel. The unrest spread to other cities and quickly grew into calls for an end to corruption and for government reform. The same party has governed Kazakhstan since its independence from Soviet rule in 1991. The Cabinet resigned Wednesday, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev removed his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev as head of the powerful Security Council, but the protests continued. A Russia-led alliance of six former Soviet countries sent peacekeeping forces on Thursday, following Tokayev’s request for support.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archive, read Julia A. Seymour’s report on the persecution of Christians in Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics.