Police tear gas rare mass protest in Kazakhstan's largest city

Police fired tear gas and stun grenades in a bid to break up an unprecedented thousands-strong march in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, after protests that began over fuel prices threatened to spiral out of control.

The police opened fire after the protesters refused to disperse, two AFP journalists reported, estimating there were more than 5,000 demonstrators present at the rally on Tuesday night.

Messenger apps Telegram, Signal and WhatsApp were down in Kazakhstan early on Wednesday as thousands took to the streets in cities across the oil-rich country to voice discontent over prices and the government.

An AFP journalist in Almaty saw some marchers attack vehicles including a fire truck.

Another AFP journalist saw several protesters and several riot police admitted to a hospital in central Almaty with what appeared to be minor injuries.

Smaller protests were staged in cities across in the country from Sunday, beginning with the western town of Zhanaozen.

LPG PRICE RISE OUTRAGE

The initial cause of the unrest was a spike in prices for liquified petroleum gas (LPG) in the country's western energy heartland, but a government move to lower the prices in line with the protesters' demands failed to calm them.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev tweeted late on Tuesday that authorities had taken a decision to lower LPG prices in the western Mangystau region "in order to ensure stability in the country."

Reports by independent media suggest that his announcement of a new price of 50 tenge (11 US cents) per litre down from 120 at the beginning of the year failed to weaken protests in Zhanaozen and Mangystau's capital Aktau, where footage showed thousands of protesters encircled by police.

The president also wrote that a government commission had "begun work" in Aktau.

"The commission is instructed to find a mutually acceptable solution to the problem that has arisen, in the interests of the stability of our country," Tokayev said.

"Law enforcement agencies have been instructed to ensure that public order is not violated. Demonstrators must show responsibility and willingness to enter dialogue," he added.

The Mangystau region depends on LPG as the main fuel for automobiles and any jump in price would have affected the price of food, which has seen steep increases since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

Zhanaozen was the scene of the country's deadliest unrest since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, when at least 14 striking oil workers were killed in 2011 as police crushed a protest over pay and working conditions.

Tokayev took office in 2019, handpicked as a successor by the Central Asian country's founding leader Nursultan Nazarbayev.

But Nazarbayev, who is 81 and had who ruled Kazakhstan since 1989, retains control over the country as chairman of the security council and "Leader of the Nation" -- a title that affords him unique policymaking privileges as well as immunity from prosecution.