In Kazakhstan, the start of the year 2022 was turbulent. On January 2nd, after the government had removed its price cap on liquefied petroleum gas (which led to doubled fuel prices), peaceful protests started in the West of the country. Within days the demonstrations spread across Kazakhstan. The government quickly reversed the fuel-price hike, but by then the anger had become about so much more.
The country has one of the largest oil reserves in the world, but ordinary people don’t profit from it. According to a 2019 report, about 50% of the country’s wealth belongs to 162 people, while most of the population has incredibly low salaries. Kazakhs were protesting the corruption and inequality in their country.
“Old man, out!” many chanted, referring to Kazakhstan’s former president Nursultan Nazarbayev. He had been in charge for almost 30 years and still held a strong position in the government after stepping down in 2019. To calm the protesters, Nazarbayev and some of his allies were removed from their posts.
Meanwhile, the protests became violent – especially in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s biggest city. The current president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declared state of emergency and ordered law enforcement and the army to shoot without warning. He called CSTO to help him restore his power and about 2500 mostly Russian soldiers were sent – which was unprecedented in Kazakhstan.
The government reports 255 people were killed. Many more were injured and hospitalized. About 10,000 were detained. The majority of the arrested are ordinary people who came to voice their political and economic grievances. Tokayev unreasonably calls all the detainees terrorists – not taking into account that many of them were peaceful protesters. What’s more, there’s evidence they are beaten.
It’s still not completely clear how peaceful protests became this violent. People were cheerful on January 4th, until the authorities fired tear gas, which lead to clashes between the police and demonstrators. The next day, some people were seen with knives and hunting rifles. On January 6th, some tried to have a peaceful protest, holding banners saying they’re not terrorists, but the military started shooting.
During the protests Tokayev strengthened his position. He declared that it was time for ordinary citizens to gain from the country’s wealth as well and announced a lot of new policies. We’ll have to see if they really improve life in Kazakhstan.
Amélia Cápec