BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 6
Trend:
Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan said the country's law enforcement agencies detained about 2,000 participants of the riots, following raids in Almaty, Trend reports referring to TASS.
“Employees of the Almaty police department commenced clearing the Karasai-Batyr and Masanchi streets," said the ministry. "Measures are being taken to arrest the violators."
Kazakhstan's government announced late Jan. 4 that it was restoring some price caps on liquefied petroleum gas, after the rare protests reached Almaty following a sharp rise in the price of the fuel at the start of the year.
Many Kazakhs have converted their cars to run on LPG, which is far cheaper than gasoline as a vehicle fuel in Kazakhstan because of price caps. But the government argued that the low price was unsustainable and lifted the caps on Jan. 1.
After the price of the fuel spiked, big demonstrations erupted on Jan. 2 in certain parts of the country. Public protests are illegal in the country unless their organizers file a notice in advance. Following the development of the situation, the government declared a state of emergency all over the country.