At least 225 people and 19 police died, and approximately 12,000 people were arrested during the first protest held in Kazakhstan in the first week of January.

The Kazakhstan government is killing innocent citizens, who are trying to protest against government corruption and an unfair new law.

A new law, policies, and corruption were the main causes of the protest. At the end of 2021, the Kazakhstan government decided to make a new law on the price of fuel that will apply to everyone in the whole country, lifting a government-enforced price cap that will increase the  fuel price significantly.

It also stopped providing stimulus payments that workers were depending on. 

Kazakhstan’s main source of income is selling the fuel it produces to other countries.

Even though the nation’s economic growth has increased steadily, all of the money earned has gone into the pockets of government officials and the rich. 

At the start of 2020, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the poverty of the civilians intensified, and the prices of all the products that civilians need increased significantly. 

LPG, the most important resource for Kazakhstan civilians, also increased in price significantly, which led to increased public anger.

Kazakhstan is especially dependent on LPG because it is a large country with a small population, meaning that people need a lot of fuel to travel around. 

With the corruption and price increases causing public outrage, civilians started protesting on January 2, 2022, with residents of Zhanaozen blocking roads and protesting against government corruption and fuel prices.

As time passed, cities near Zhanaozen started to join the protest as well. 

Starting on January 4, the government announced the arrest of civilians who were protesting and shut down the Internet.

Many witnesses reported seeing military planes in the air as well.

On January 5, Prime Minister Askar Mamin stepped down, and Alikhan Smailov replaced him. 

As soon as he became prime minister, Smailov fired everyone in the government. On January 6, members of the Russian, Belarusian, Tajikistani, Armenian, and Kyrgyzstani armies started arriving in Kazakhstan to help the government.

On January 7, the army started shooting at civilians, leading to the death of 26 and arrest of 3,000.

As time passed, more protesters were killed, and the national police of Kazakhstan joined the protest to oppose the army. 

Many media outlets reported that there were many street battles between the protestors & police and army personnel.

After many civilians were killed and arrested, the situation calmed down, with the protest being considered a failure.

Countries around the world responded to the unrest in various ways.

Countries that helped the Kazakhstan government, such as Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia, called the protesters terrorists, justifying their provision of military assistance to help contain the protests. 

The Chinese government had a similar reaction, with the communsit government saying that the Kazakhstan government had responded reasonably and treated the protesters very well. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Justin Yonghoo Cho

Grade 9

Korea International School Pangyo

 
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