[Original] (https://www.golosameriki.com/a/prots-urupt-in-kazakhstan-fuel-price-rise/6381225.html)
It is reported, in particular, about performances in Janaozen, Aktau and Almaty
In several cities of Kazakhstan, protests broke out after the country’s government canceled the maximum prices for liquefied oil gas, and the cost of gas fuel for cars - a popular alternative to gasoline increased.
Public protest performances are a rarity in Kazakhstan.In addition, they are considered illegal here if their organizers are not notified of their plans in advance.
Thousands of people took part in the protests.They began on January 2, the day after the cancellation of maximum liquefied gas prices.
Protest performances took place in the city of Zhanaozen, located in the west of the country of the Center for the Kazakh oil industry.In 2011, the most bloody clashes occurred here between the protesters and the law enforcement forces in the history of independent Kazakhstan.In the course of these clashes, dozens of people died.
During the current protests, protesters in Zhanaozen demanded to halved the price of liquefied gas - from 120 tenge ($ 0.27) per liter to the level at which fuel was sold last year.
An agreement was reached on a decrease in the price of a quarter, but the country’s leadership, headed by the President of Kazakhstan, Kasim-Zhomart Tokayev, said that further decrease was impossible due to production costs.
The protests spread to the city of Aktau, the administrative center of the Mangistau region, as well as to the working village used by the subcontractors of Tengizchevroil.
On Monday and Tuesday, the main square of Almaty was cordoned off by the police.
Mobile Internet was blocked in the city center.On Tuesday, Tokaev reported on Twitter that a government commission began to work in Aktau, the purpose of which is to find a solution to the problem “in the interests of stability”.