In Almaty, the country’s largest city, protests turned violent and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev issued shoot-to-kill orders as demonstrators stormed government buildings. Officials said 238 people were killed.
The unrest started in the city of Zhanaozen on Jan. 2, 2022, when residents protested a sharp increase in the cost of liquefied petroleum gas, commonly used as fuel for vehicles in Kazakhstan.
The protests evolved into criticism of corruption and economic inequality under former leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, whose critics accuse him of profiting off the country's vast energy wealth after taking office in 1991.
Nazarbayev resigned from the presidency in 2019 but still held substantial power at the time of the protests as head of Kazakhstan's security council.
Tokayev has pushed an array of reforms, including limiting the presidency to a single seven-year term. He removed Nazarbayev as head of the security council, and the capital city, which had been named Nur-Sultan in Nazarbayev's honor, reverted to its former name of Astana.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP