Protests over gas price increases that started on New Year’s Day in the city of Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan, have spread across the country and turned violent, in the first large-scale challenge the Kazakhstani leadership has ever faced. On Wednesday, demonstrators in the country’s commercial center, Almaty, stormed and set alight the mayor’s office and other government buildings, and protesters seized the city’s airport overnight. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s initial efforts to quell the demonstrations, by warning of “tough” repercussions and suggesting protesters were funded by outside forces, likely stoked public anger even more.
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