Protesters in Kazakhstan have seized Almaty international airport. This was reported to Orda.kz by the press service of the airport.
“They made it to the airport. According to preliminary data, there are now about 45 invaders at the airport. As they entered, our staff left the airport. There were no passengers in the terminal at the time of the seizure, ”they said.
Airport staff evacuated passengers from the building on their own. The military left the airport in an unknown direction, the press service added.
Earlier, Russian Aeroflot canceled a flight from Moscow to Almaty. The plane was supposed to fly to the republic at 20.55 Moscow time from Sheremetyevo. The Belarusian company “Belavia”, in turn, told passengers about the possibility to change the date of departure to Kazakhstan at no additional charge.
Protests in Kazakhstan began after the New Year against the backdrop of rising gas prices for cars to 120 tenge. After that, the government announced a reduction in the cost of the energy carrier to 50 tenge, but this did not stop the mass demonstrations.
As the first vice-president of the Center for Political Technologies, HSE professor Alexei Makarkin explained to Vedomosti, the protests began for socio-economic and political reasons. Thus, citizens are unhappy with the rise in prices, property inequality, tension due to the severe consequences of the pandemic, as well as the fact that the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, having left his post and transferred most of his power functions to the new head of state, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, did not completely retire from politics and retains significant influence and leverage.
Against the backdrop of protests, Tokayev introduced a state of emergency in Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Almaty and Mangistau regions, and also accepted the resignation of the government. In addition, the president replaced Nazarbayev as chairman of the Security Council and warned of tough measures against protesters.
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